System and method for determining physical location of electronic display devices in a retail establishment

ABSTRACT

A system and method for determining physical location of an electronic display device located in a retail establishment of a retailer may include a support structure mechanically coupling the electronic display device to a fixture in the retail establishment. The fixture may be located at an identified location of the retail environment established by the retailer. An input device may be in communication with the electronic display device and configured to receive an entry of an identifier indicative of the identified location into the electronic display device. A transmitter may be coupled to the electronic display device and configured to transmit the identifier of the identified location to a remote location from the electronic display device for determining physical location of the electronic display device in the retail establishment.

CROSS-REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application for patent is a Continuation of U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 12/776,147 filed May 7, 2010, which is a Divisional of U.S.patent application Ser. No. 11/600,498 filed Nov. 16, 2006, which is aContinuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/277,218 filed onOct. 17, 2002 and claims the benefit of priority from U.S. ProvisionalApplication Patent Ser. No. 60/330,224, filed Oct. 17, 2001; co-pendingU.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/265,512, filed Oct. 3, 2002, andU.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 60/341,626, filed Dec. 17, 2001.The teachings of the above applications are incorporated herein byreference in their entirety.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Technical Field of the Invention

The principles of the present invention generally relate to a system andmethod for performing out-of-home advertising, and more particularly,but not by way of limitation, for providing the system and method tosubscribers (e.g., retailers and out-of-home advertisement agencies) tooperate as private broadcasters to provide advertising or contentdelivery services for advertisers and subscribers in a targeted manner.

2. Description of Related Art

Traditional out-of-home advertising, including point-of-purchase andpromotional retail advertising, has been generally formed of static andexpensive signs and promotional materials that typically utilizephotographs, graphics, and text for advertising products. Advertisingspace located in retail outlets is generally rented, leased, orotherwise disposed of by a manufacturer for a certain period of time,such as a month. While the cost of renting the advertising space may beexpensive, the cost to produce the content that is placed in theadvertising space may be as or more expensive (e.g., $800 per sign) dueto production and printing costs. Further, advertisers (e.g., productmanufacturers) typically have as much as 70 percent or more of thesigns, promotional materials, and display fixtures not used or displayedby the retailer. The cost to produce these items or materials also maycarry additional costs if techniques, such as backlighting, are used.

In an effort to reduce production and printing costs and increaserevenue from the out-of-home advertising locations, dynamic signage hasdeveloped. Dynamic signage includes many techniques for allowingadvertisements to be non-static, including rotating mechanical deviceshaving multiple printed advertisements mounted thereto and utilizingelectronic displays. In the case of using electronic displays, onetechnique has included playing video tapes, compact disks (CDs), digitalvideo disks (DVDs), etc., of advertisements and/or content on anelectronic display that is proximately located in relation to a product.Content is any and all information of any form, including, withoutlimitation, images (still, motion, and/or animated) and audio.Advertising is content related to products and/or services.Additionally, computers have been connected directly to monitors todisplay digitally stored advertisement data. More recently, larger,flat-panel electronic displays have allowed retailers to displayadvertisements with increased space savings and with better visualappeal.

However, conventional dynamic signage systems utilizing visual displaysfor advertising have several drawbacks. First, distributing andmaintaining the content (e.g., advertising information on a large scaleis difficult. Even in the case of having a single display, installing,updating, and servicing the advertisement data on the associatedcomputer is time consuming and expensive from an equipment and manpowerperspective. In the case of utilizing a computer server and localcomputer network to maintain and distribute the data from the computerserver at a central location, distribution costs may be reduced, buthigher equipment costs and maintenance fees are needed due to the moresophisticated hardware and software being utilized. These costs aregenerally beyond what retailers and out-of-home media entities, forexample, are willing or able to afford as they are reluctant to purchasethe equipment and hire staff to support the technology.

A second drawback includes the capitalization of the computer andelectronic display equipment being significant. While the cost of thisequipment has been reduced over the past few years, especially forcomputer equipment and flat panel displays, retailers have not fullyembraced the technology due the capitalization costs—particularly from abalance sheet standpoint. In other words, retailers and other businessestablishments are cautious in purchasing and owning computing andelectronic display equipment that will become outdated and negativelyaffect the balance sheet.

A third drawback is that large content datafiles for advertising orother purposes requires a high bandwidth communication network tocommunicate the datafiles. Because of the high bandwidth requirement,use of terrestrial broadband for communication of large datafiles tomany distribution points presently is not a viable option due tocommunication fees and bandwidth limitations. Additionally, geographiccoverage of the Internet is not sufficient in many rural areas thatpotential customers or users require. Other forms of terrestrialcommunication having insufficient bandwidth, such as cellular networks,cable, digital subscriber lines (DSL), and broadcasts are similarlyproblematic in terms of coverage areas and associated costs across thecountry and around the world. These communication limitations aremagnified when distribution of the content is performed on a large scalebasis.

A fourth drawback is that the electronic displays traditionally used byout-of-home establishments have been large (e.g., 36×48 inches) suchthat the electronic displays generally have been utilized to perform“brand messaging” or “bill boarding” for advertisers and retailers. Onereason for the limited usage of the large electronic displays is due tothe inability to place the large electronic displays at or nearpoint-of-purchase displays. The placements include mounting theelectronic displays to the walls and ceilings or on a pedestal that isfree-standing on the floor. Such placements, again, provide for brandmessaging, which may help to increase sales volume, but “impulse”purchasing, as understood in the art, may not be fully captured due tothe electronic displays only being in the general vicinity of theproducts being advertised and not close enough to inspire consumers toreadily purchase the product being advertised.

Further, the large electronic displays have typically been fixed ormounted to walls or other relatively immovable structures such that itis difficult for the retail establishment to easily relocate theelectronic displays. And, because electronic displays are not easilymoveable, advertisers are limited in being able to utilize theadvertising technology as their products are unable to be relocated inproximity of one of the electronic displays. Also, because theelectronic displays are limited in number and placed “where convenient”,specifying the location of the electronic display in relation to a storelayout is generally not performed or performed at a very broad level(e.g., checkout counter), thereby being difficult or impossible forretailers to easily manage and sell to advertisers for advertisingusage.

A fifth drawback includes the long-time common practice for advertisersto request “tearsheets” as understood in the art of advertisementsprinted in periodicals or other printed material. However, in the caseof using electronic displays, advertisers are unable to receive trueverification as to whether the content was actually displayed asrequested both in terms of time and quality (e.g., color and intensity).While it may be possible to verify that the content was communicated toan electronic display, simply knowing that the content was communicateddoes not indicate truly whether the electronic display was properlyoperating (e.g., proper operation of the picture tube, proper color,proper brightness, existence of power, sound quality, etc.). Because ofthe lack of a “tearsheet” verification, advertisers are reluctant toengage in the use of electronic display technology for advertising atremote locations.

To address the bandwidth requirements for the large amounts of digitalmedia content for advertisements and the insufficient geographiccoverage presently existing with terrestrial networks, satellitenetworking has been utilized. The satellite network offers sufficientglobal reach necessary for the advertising industry, which is trulyinternational in scope. One such satellite network is provided by HughesNetwork Systems. Other satellite networks are available from Loral Spaceand Communications and Gilat Satellite Networks, to name a few. However,while communication technology has become available to solve thecommunication problems, the other drawbacks and issues (e.g.,management, cost, verification, etc.) remain open issues that restricttechnology usage and industry growth.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

To overcome the problem of determining physical location of electronicdisplay devices in a network of electronic displays in a retailestablishment, the principles of the present invention provide for auser installing the electronic displays to enter location information inthe electronic displays. The location information may be associated witha map, such as a planogram, established by a retailer that manages theretail establishment. Entering the location information may include usea touch screen, indicia scanner, such a barcode reader, or any otherinput device. The location information may be a code that is listed on aplanogram or other map established by the retailer or otherwise.

One embodiment of a system for determining physical location of anelectronic display device located in a retail establishment of aretailer may include a support structure mechanically coupling theelectronic display device to a fixture in the retail establishment. Thefixture may be located at an identified location of the retailenvironment established by the retailer. An input device may be incommunication with the electronic display device and configured toreceive an entry of an identifier indicative of the identified locationinto the electronic display device. A transmitter may be coupled to theelectronic display device and configured to transmit the identifier ofthe identified location to a remote location from the electronic displaydevice for determining physical location of the electronic displaydevice in the retail establishment.

One embodiment of a method for determining physical location of anelectronic display device at a retail establishment of a retailer mayinclude positioning the electronic display device at a location withinthe retail store. The location may correspond to an identified locationestablished by the retailer. An identifier indicative of the identifiedlocation may be entered into the electronic display device. Theidentifier of the identified location may be transmitted from theelectronic display to a remote location from the electronic displaydevice for determining physical location of the electronic display inthe retail establishment.

One embodiment of a system for determining physical location of anelectronic display device in a retail store may include an input/output(I/O) unit configured to communicate over a communications network, astorage unit configured to store data associated with the electronicdisplay device, and a processing unit in communication with the receiverand storage unit. The processing unit may be configured to receive afirst identifier associated with the electronic display device and asecond identifier associated with a physical location at which theelectronic display device is positioned. The processing unit may furtherconfigured to store the first and second identifiers, and determinewhether the second identifier is indicative of the electronic displaydevice being positioned in the correct physical location in the retailstore. In response to the processing unit determining that theelectronic display device is positioned in an incorrect location, theprocessing unit may notify a user that the electronic display device isnot located in the correct location in the retail store. Otherwise, inresponse to determining that the electronic display device is in thecorrect physical location, the processing unit may be configured torecord that the electronic display device is in the correct location. Inone embodiment, the second identifier is indicative of a product at thephysical location of the electronic display device. The secondidentifier may be a UPC code of a product in the retail store. In oneembodiment, the processing unit may prevent content from being displayedon the electronic display device until a determination is made that theelectronic display device is in the correct location. In preventing thecontent from being displayed, the processing unit may prevent thecontent from being communicated to the electronic display device. Theprocessing unit may further be configured to notify the user to move theelectronic display device to the location in the retail store prior to atime that the electronic display device is scheduled to be moved to thelocation.

One embodiment of a method for determining physical location of anelectronic display device in a retail store may include receiving afirst identifier associated with the electronic display device and asecond identifier associated with a physical location at which theelectronic display device is positioned. The first and secondidentifiers may be stored. A determination may be made as to whether thesecond identifier is indicative of the electronic display device beingpositioned in the correct physical location in the retail store. Inresponse to determining that the electronic display device is positionedin an incorrect location, a user may be notified that the electronicdisplay device is not located in the correct location in the retailstore. Otherwise, in response to determining that the electronic displaydevice is located in the correct location in the retail store, arecording that the electronic display device is in the correct locationmay be made.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

A more complete understanding of the system and methods of theprinciples of the present invention may be obtained by reference to thefollowing Detailed Description when taken in conjunction with theaccompanying Drawings wherein:

FIGS. 1A-1B are exemplary maps and of the United States showing cableand digital subscriber line (DSL) communication coverage area andsatellite communication coverage areas;

FIG. 2 is an exemplary system diagram of a communications system thatprovides for communication of content utilizing the principles of thepresent invention;

FIGS. 3A-3C are more detailed exemplary system block diagrams ofinfrastructure of the communications system of FIG. 2;

FIGS. 4A-4C are exemplary illustrations of various embodiments of visualappliances of FIG. 3A coupled to point-of-purchase displays as utilizedin facilities of FIG. 2;

FIG. 5A is an edge-view of an exemplary power distribution system thatincludes a low-profile track and conductive power strips utilized in thefacilities of FIG. 2;

FIG. 5B is another exemplary power distribution system formed of tubingthat may operate as a support extension arm to mount and extend visualappliances from a display fixture within the facilities of FIG. 2;

FIG. 5C is yet another embodiment of a power distribution systemconfigured as a support arm connector that may be mounted below a shelf,along a wall, or otherwise support visual appliances of FIG. 3A;

FIG. 6 is an exemplary planogram that maps a physical layout of afacility of FIG. 2;

FIG. 7A is a system diagram that describes functional architecture ofthe service provider server of the service provider of FIG. 2;

FIG. 7B is an exemplary block diagram of functional architectureprovided by the local server in accordance with FIG. 3A;

FIG. 7C is an exemplary block diagram depicting communication betweenthe service provider and local servers of FIGS. 7A and 7B;

FIG. 8 is an exemplary hierarchy account structure for subscribers ofthe service provider of FIG. 2;

FIG. 9 is an exemplary block diagram describing the functionalcomponents utilized by the account management package of FIG. 7A;

FIG. 10 is an exemplary sequence diagram that illustrates the creationof a new subscriber account as provided by a subscriber account creationmodule of FIG. 9;

FIG. 11 is an exemplary sequence diagram illustrating the creation of anew subscriber domain by a subscriber domain creation module of FIG. 9;

FIG. 12 is a sequence diagram that illustrates the creation of a newuser account as provided by the user account creation module of FIG. 9;

FIG. 13 is an exemplary sequence diagram illustrating the adding of anew security role by a role creation module of FIG. 9;

FIG. 14 is an exemplary block diagram providing for a facility andvisual appliance manager package of FIG. 7A;

FIG. 15 is an exemplary sequence diagram illustrating the creation andsaving records of a facility within the service provider server of FIG.7A;

FIG. 16 is an exemplary sequence diagram that illustrates the creationand saving records of a visual appliance within the service providerserver of FIG. 7A;

FIG. 17 is an exemplary sequence diagram illustrating the searching ofrecords for visual appliances within the service provider server of FIG.7A;

FIG. 18 depicts the provisioning management package that provides forprovisioning of local servers and visual appliances on the serviceprovider server of FIG. 7A;

FIG. 19 is an exemplary sequence diagram that illustrates addingprovisioning information for the local server within a facility that hasalready been created at the service provider server of FIG. 7A;

FIG. 20 is an exemplary sequence diagram that illustrates addingprovisioning information for a visual appliance that has already beencreated by the service provider of FIG. 2;

FIG. 21 is an exemplary sequence diagram that illustrates installationof the visual appliance of FIG. 3A that has been provisioned at theservice provider server;

FIG. 22 is an exemplary block diagram showing the content managementpackage of FIG. 7A that is utilized by the subscribers to manage contentas understood in the art;

FIG. 23 is an exemplary sequence diagram for illustrating creation ofcontent utilizing the service provider server of FIG. 7A;

FIG. 24 is an exemplary sequence diagram illustrating submission ofcontent for approval by a user designated as content approver for thesubscriber of FIG. 2;

FIG. 25 is an exemplary sequence diagram illustrating the approvalprocess for the content to be broadcast by the subscriber of FIG. 2;

FIG. 26 is an exemplary block diagram of the playlist management packageof FIG. 7A and associated modules;

FIG. 27 is an exemplary sequence diagram for illustrating the creatingand saving of a scheduled record utilizing the service provider serverof FIG. 7A;

FIG. 28 is an exemplary sequence diagram illustrating submission of ascheduled record for approval utilizing the service provider server ofFIG. 7A;

FIG. 29 is an exemplary sequence diagram illustrating submission ofscheduled records for content distribution utilizing the serviceprovider server of FIG. 7A;

FIG. 30 is an exemplary block diagram providing for content distributionby the communications network service provider of FIG. 2;

FIG. 31 is an exemplary sequence diagram illustrating the creation of asatellite package for multicast/unicast to local server(s) of FIG. 3A;

FIG. 32 is an exemplary sequence diagram that illustrates themulticasting/unicasting of the satellite package to the local server(s)of FIG. 3A;

FIG. 33 is an exemplary block diagram of the asset management packagefor managing the physical assets of FIG. 3A;

FIG. 34 is an exemplary sequence diagram illustrating the asset additionprocess provided by an asset addition module of FIG. 33;

FIG. 35 provides a system operations package for the service provider toprovide the service operations and maintenance for the assets of thecommunications system of FIGS. 2 and 3A;

FIG. 36 is an exemplary sequence diagram that illustrates retrievingalert history via the communications system of FIG. 2;

FIG. 37 is an exemplary sequence diagram illustrating the retrieval oflogs from the local server of FIG. 3A;

FIG. 38 is an exemplary sequence diagram that illustrates thereplacement of a default image for a visual appliance by an operator ofthe service provider of FIG. 2;

FIG. 39 is an exemplary block diagram providing for the packages that alocal server management package interfaces for operating the localserver of FIG. 3A;

FIG. 40 is an exemplary sequence diagram illustrating registration ofthe local server to the service provider server of FIG. 7A at the timeof provisioning;

FIG. 41 is an exemplary block diagram that depicts the local server andfunctionality provided thereby of FIG. 3A;

FIG. 42 is an exemplary sequence diagram that illustrates receipt andpost processing of satellite packages by the local server of FIG. 3A;

FIG. 43 is an exemplary sequence diagram that illustrates delivery ofcontent to the visual appliances of FIG. 3A;

FIG. 44 is an exemplary sequence diagram that depicts a registrationprocess for the visual appliances with the local server of FIG. 3A;

FIG. 45 is an exemplary flow diagram for updating location informationof the visual appliance of FIG. 3A;

FIG. 46 is an exemplary sequence diagram that shows polling of summaryinformation by the local server from the visual appliance of FIG. 3A;

FIG. 47 is an exemplary class diagram for operating on the local serverof FIG. 3A in accordance with the principles of the present invention;

FIG. 48 is an exemplary class diagram for operating within thecommunication system of communication system of FIG. 2 and for providingthe principles of the present invention;

FIG. 49 is an exemplary block diagram of a local network for displayingand verifying that visual content and/or display parameters aredisplayed on a visual appliance of FIG. 3A;

FIGS. 50A-C are more detailed block diagrams of the electronic displaycontroller and electronic display of FIG. 49;

FIG. 51A is an exemplary flow diagram providing verification level 1 ofthe content being displayed on the visual appliance of FIG. 3A;

FIG. 51B is an exemplary flow chart of a verification level 2 process ofthe content being displayed on the visual appliance of FIG. 3A;

FIGS. 52A-C provides a number of exemplary embodiments for utilizing anoptical sensor for measuring illumination of a verification code on thevisual appliance of FIG. 3A;

FIG. 53 is an exemplary graph for showing a digital verification codesignal representative of a content identifier that may be utilized toform a verification code associated with a content signal to bedisplayed on the visual appliance of FIG. 3A;

FIGS. 54A-D is a sequence of images that illustrate the digitalverification code signal being displayed as a visual verification codesignal on the visual appliance of FIG. 3A;

FIG. 55A is an exemplary flow chart describing an operation for theverification level 3 of the visual content being displayed on the visualappliance of FIG. 3A;

FIG. 55B is an exemplary flow chart describing verification level 4,which indicates that a particular content signal is timely and properlydisplayed on the visual appliance of FIG. 3A;

FIGS. 56A-56D are exemplary user interfaces for utilizing thecommunications system of FIG. 2;

FIG. 57 is an exemplary block diagram that describes a subscriptionmodel for the service provider of FIG. 2 to provide the contentmanagement and distribution services according to the principles of thepresent invention;

FIG. 58 is an exemplary flow diagram describing operation of the revenuestream depicted in FIG. 57;

FIG. 59 is an exemplary block diagram that describes a subscriptionmodel that utilizes a point-of-purchase (POP) display manufacturer andadvertisement agencies/manufacturer-advertiser to offer the contentmanagement and distribution services of the service provider of FIG. 2in accordance with products and/or services offered by the POP displaymanufacturer and advertisement agency/manufacturer-advertiser;

FIG. 60A is an exemplary flow diagram describing the subscription modelof FIG. 59;

FIG. 60B is an exemplary flow diagram describing the subscription modelof FIG. 59 from the view of the POP display manufacturer;

FIG. 61 is an exemplary block diagram describing a subscription modelfrom the service provider of FIG. 2 to a sign management company;

FIG. 62 is an exemplary block diagram that provides for a billing systembridge for subscribers of the service provider of FIG. 2;

FIG. 63A is another billing system bridge model for subscribers to billadvertisers utilizing the communications system of FIG. 2;

FIG. 63B is an exemplary flow diagram describing a process forperforming the billing system bridge model of FIG. 63A;

FIG. 64 is an exemplary block diagram representative of a local networkof a facility of the subscriber of FIG. 2;

FIG. 65 is an exemplary map showing a distributed network of storageunit located in facility of subscribers of the service provider of FIG.2; and

FIG. 66 is an exemplary flow diagram describing a data storage modelutilizing the storage units of FIG. 65.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIGS. 1A-1B are exemplary maps 100 a and 100 b of the United Statesshowing cable and digital subscriber line (DSL) communication coveragearea 105 and satellite communication coverage area 110. Because coverageof cable and digital subscriber lines in the United States and aroundthe world (DSL) is relatively sparse, terrestrial communications oflarge datafiles are expensive and difficult or impossible if adestination location for the data is not covered by either of these orother forms of terrestrial communication. It should be understood thatslower forms of communication are impractical for communicating largecontent datafiles, such as those communicated for advertisements.

Satellite communication coverage enables communication throughout theentire United States. And because the satellite communication covers theentire country, distribution cost of content is simple and inexpensiverelative to terrestrial communication. Additionally, satellite coverageoffers governmental level security in terms of encryption and other dataand communication security measures. Satellite communications furtherprovide a fully distributive network, which allows for communicationfrom one to many locations. Users of the satellite communications arecharged for usage and need not be charged for being on-line as bandwidthof the system is not decreased by having additional users. Becausesubscribers of the services as defined below in more detail are locatedall over the United States with varying densities, satellitecommunication currently provides the “broadest” coverage.

System General Description

A content management and distribution service provider (“serviceprovider”) may provide infrastructure equipment to out-of-homeenterprises (e.g., retail facilities) or locations (e.g., billboard). Inone embodiment, the users of the infrastructure are “subscribers”, whomay be enterprises, out-of-home advertisers, advertising spaceresellers, retailers, manufacturers, or other advertising sellers orpurchasers. The infrastructure equipment may include satellitecommunication equipment, computing equipment, local network equipmentand electronic display equipment. In the case of a subscriber being anenterprise, such as a large retail chain having a corporate office andindividual stores, the home office receive access to anetwork-accessible service and the individual stores receive satellitecommunication equipment, server, local area communication equipment, andvisual appliances. The visual appliances include an electronic displayscreen and an electronic display controller, which may be formed of acircuit board having communication and display driver capabilities. Forpractical reasons, the electric displays may be flat-panel displayscreens. The flat-panel electronic displays may be LCD, LED, plasma,CRT, projection or the like. The electronic display controllers may beestablished to have unique identifiers so as to be individually oruniquely addressable. The visual appliances may alternatively be formedof an electronic display controller and cathode ray tube (CRT),television, or other controllable electronic display device.

An end-to-end out-of-home content display system may be integrated asfollows. The service provider operates a server that hosts an interfacefor the subscribers to utilize in managing content, such asadvertisements, to be displayed on the local network(s) of thesubscribers. The home office of the subscriber may communicate with theserver of the service provider to establish a playlist for the content,where the playlist establishes content to be played at certain time(s)and on certain visual appliance(s). Datafiles containing the content tobe displayed may be uploaded via the network or via the satellitecommunication equipment of the satellite service provider.

Once the playlist is defined, the server of the service provider maymanually, semi-automatically, or automatically communicate with acommunications network service provider (e.g., satellite serviceprovider) to distribute the datafile(s) containing the content to localservers being operated by individual enterprise locations prior to thecontent being scheduled to play on the visual appliances. In oneembodiment, the datafile(s) may be communicated to the local servers atoff-peak times to reduce communication fees as the datafiles areutilized for low priority business operations (relative to credit cardverification operations, for example). The local servers store thedatafile(s) until about the scheduled playtime. At or about thescheduled playtime, the datafile(s) are communicated to the visualappliance(s) for display as scheduled. The communication may beperformed wirelessly over a local area network.

The visual appliance(s) receiving the content in the form of a datafilecontaining image and/or sound data of the content loads and stores thedatafile. The datafile may be played on the visual appliance(s) (i) inresponse to receiving a “start” command by the local server, (ii)automatically during or after the datafile is downloaded, or (iii) bysimply being powered (i.e. play content in memory). However, because thevisual appliances are generally operated as “dumb” terminals (i.e.,slaves), network interaction is utilized to begin display of thecontent.

Because content providers (e.g., advertisers) are often very concernedabout verification that the content is (i) displayed, (ii) at the propertime, having (iii) the correct visual appearance (e.g., color andintensity), the principles of the present invention provide for contentdatafiles to be encoded with an identifier and/or other attributeinformation of the content. Alternatively, rather than encoding thedatafile, a separate data signal may be displayed on the visualappliance in association with the content. Other techniques forverifying the timely and proper display of the content may be found inco-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/265,512, filed on Oct. 3,2002, which hereby is incorporated by reference herein. The identifierand/or other attribute information is displayed on the visual appliancein conjunction with displaying the content. Alternatively, theidentifier and/or other attribute information may be displayed prior toor after completion of the content being displayed.

To provide for verification of the content being timely and properlydisplayed, one embodiment may include an optical sensor positioned tomeasure the identifier and/or other attribute information associatedwith the content and feeds-back the measured information. In oneembodiment, the optical sensor is coupled to the external surface of adisplay screen of the visual appliance for sensing the identifier and/orother attribute information. The feedback of the sensed information maybe measured by the electronic display controller of the visual applianceor a remote computing system. In either case, the measurements areinterpreted to determine the measured information. In the case of thevisual appliance performing the measurement, a log is generated andstored at the visual appliance. The measured information, which mayinclude the identifier of the content, color information, intensityinformation and display time, for example, may be used to provide acertified verification to advertisers that the content was played at thecorrect time and location, and that the appearance was correct, therebyproviding for a “virtual tearsheet”. Other log information may be storedand read by the local server. Such other log information may includeoperation of the visual appliance, start/end times of content, currentlystored content, performance data, interactive tracking information, etc.

To close the loop for the communications system or private broadcastingnetwork, the local servers may communicate the log information to theservice provider. The service provider, in turn, may generate billingand reporting information for the retailer and/or advertisers. It shouldbe understood, however, that the transfer of information may beperformed by other sequences or along other communication paths and bein accordance with the principles of the present invention.

As will be further discussed hereinafter, the visual appliances may bereduced in size to be mounted to specific shelves or other locationswithin a retail or other establishment. By mounting the visualappliances to specific shelves to be located substantially close to theproducts being advertised, impulse purchases may be better captured bythe advertisers. Additionally, the visual appliances may be “mapped” toa store layout plan (i.e., how and where products or merchandise aredisplayed within the store), generally known in the art as a planogram.By having the mapping capability, the subscribers may easily manage thevisual appliances in relation to products associated with the content.

The service provider further provides an interface on a network thatenables the subscribers to receive or post and schedule the content viaa playlist. Because the visual appliances are network addressable, thecontent may be scheduled to display on selected visual appliances. Forexample, an advertisement for a particular beverage may be displayed onvisual appliance(s) coupled to a store shelf that supports theparticular beverage.

System Detailed Description

FIG. 2 is an exemplary system diagram of a communications system 200that provides for communication of content utilizing the principles ofthe present invention as generally described above. A content managementand service provider (“service provider”) 202 provides retailsubscribers 204 and brand subscribers 206 with the ability to operate asprivate network providers or broadcasters by allowing the retail andbrand subscribers 204 and 206 to manage, schedule, and control contentbeing distributed via the communications system 200.

The retail subscriber 204 is a business entity or establishment, such asa retail establishment or retailer, that may be formed of multiplefacilities 208 a-208 g (collectively 208) that operate in distinctlocations. In one embodiment, a main office may operate to manage thecontent for each facility 208. Alternatively, each facility may managethe content being displayed therein. The brand subscriber 206 may be amanufacturer, for example, that conducts business with or sells productsto multiple retailers, who may be the retail subscribers 204 a-204 c(collectively 204). The retail subscribers 204 a-204 c may be composedof multiple facilities 210 a-210 c, 212 a-212 d, and 214 a-214 d,respectively. It should be understood that other types of subscribersmay utilize the services of the service provider 202.

The service provider 202 may utilize a communications network serviceprovider 216 for performing the actual distribution of content via thecommunications system 200. One such communications network serviceprovider 216 is a satellite network service provider that utilizes asatellite dish 217 to communicate with one or more satellites 218 over acommunication link 219 to communicate the content for the subscribers204 and 206 to the facilities 208-214. In providing subscriber services(e.g., managing, scheduling, distributing, displaying, and storing thecontent) for the subscribers 204 and 206, the service provider 202enables the subscribers 204 and 206 to communicate therewith via anetwork 220. In one embodiment, the network 220 is a terrestrialnetwork, such as the Internet. Alternatively, the network 220 may beother terrestrial networks, either wireless (e.g., cellular) or wired(e.g., cable, DSL, local area network (LAN), or wide area network(WAN)). Still yet, the network 220 may utilize the satellite 218 toenable the service provider 202 to provide subscriber services.

In providing the subscriber services, the service provider 202 andcommunications network service provider 216 may operate in conjunctionto allow the subscribers 204 and 206 to manage, schedule, store, andcommunicate or distribute the content to the facilities 208-214. For thenon-content communication (e.g., management and scheduling services),the subscribers may communicate via the network 220 with the serviceprovider 202 across communication lines 221 a and 221 b (collectively221) via data packets 222 a-222 d (collectively 222) and acrosscommunication lines 223 a and 223 b (collectively 223) via data packets224 a-224 d as understood in the art.

The network 220 may be utilized for non-content communications as lowbandwidth communications are being performed. However, for the highbandwidth communications to communicate the content, which are typicallylarge datafiles, the satellite 218 is utilized. As shown, communicationpath 225 is used to communicate the content in the form of data packets226 a-226 b (collectively 226) and communication path 227 carries datapackets 228 a-228 b from the subscribers 204 and 206, collectively. Thesatellite 218, in turn, communicates data packets 226 c-226 d and 228c-228 d to the communications network service provider 216. The contentmay be maintained at the communications network service provider 216 fordistribution to the facilities 208-214 associated with the subscribers204 and 206. The service provider 202 may communicate over acommunication link 229 with the communications network service provider216. The information may be in the form of data packets 230 a-230 b(collectively 230) to manage, distribute, etc., the content of thesubscribers 204 and 206 being maintained by the communications networkservice provider 216. If the subscriber 204 schedules particular contentto be displayed by the facilities 208, then prior to the scheduleddisplay time, the content is communicated by the communications networkservice provider 216 to the facilities 208. Because the communication ofthe content is a non-critical business communication, a low prioritycommunication status may be applied to the communication so that thecommunication occurs at low-peak hours (e.g., at night) to minimize costof communication for the service provider 202 and/or subscribers 204 and206.

In operation, a retail operator 232 of the retail subscriber 204 mayinterface with the service provider 202 to load, unload, manage, store,distribute and display content. The content may be distributed to theretail facilities 208 by the communications network service provider 216via the satellite 218. Similarly, a brand operator 234 of the brandsubscriber 206 may interface with the service provider 202 to manage anddistribute content to facilities 210, 212, and 214 of the retailsubscribers 204 a-204 c.

FIG. 3A is a more detailed exemplary system diagram 300 a in accordancewith the communications system 200 of FIG. 2. As shown, equipmentutilized at a facility 208 for a retail subscriber 204 may include asatellite dish 302 maintained at the facility 208 that includes a localserver 304. Within the facility 208, a wireless local area network (LAN)306 may be utilized to communicate to a variety of visual appliances308. The visual appliances 308 may be formed of an electronic display310 coupled to an electronic display controller 312. One embodiment ofthe visual appliance 308 a is a small electronic display 310 having anelectronic display controller 312 embedded therein. Another exemplaryvisual appliance 308 b includes a large electronic display 310 having anelectronic display controller 312 embedded therein. Yet anotherexemplary visual appliance 308 c includes an electronic display 310having an electronic display controller 312.

In operation, the communications network service provider 216communicates content to be displayed on the visual appliances 308,either individually or in groups, via the satellite dish 217 to thesatellite 218 across the communication link 219. The satellite 218operates as a transponder and communicates the content via thecommunication path 225 to the satellite dish 302 located at the facility208. The local server 304 receives and stores the content fordistribution to the visual appliances 308 via the wireless LAN 306. Thelocal server 304 communicates the content to the visual appliances 308in accordance with a broadcast schedule via a playlist, for example, forthe content established by the subscriber 204. In scheduling the contentto be distributed to the subscriber 204, an operator 314 associated withthe subscriber 204 may interface with the service provider 202 acrossthe communication lines 221 to schedule the content for display on thevisual appliances 308. In establishing the schedule, the operator 314may utilize an interface provided by the service provider 202. Theinterface may be a web site or other on-line interface that provides forscheduling services for the content to be displayed on individual ormultiple visual appliances 308.

In addition to the operator 314 interfacing with the service provider202 for scheduling content to be delivered and displayed at the facility208, the interface may also provide the operator 314 the ability toaccess and manage accounts including functionality to manage the libraryof digital assets, view content in the library, determine contentplaying, perform site selection, scheduling a transmission of thecontent, and obtain detailed subscriber accounting and billinginformation. The interface also provides the capability for viewingdetailed subscriber account information, which includes, but is notlimited to, storage, billing, playlist schedules, transmissions, playacknowledgments, airtime plans, fault logs, and any historical logs thatare generated. Multi-layered security may be utilized to allowsubscribers 204 and 206 to designate various levels of restricted accessto the stored content based on individual organizational requirements.

FIG. 3B is an exemplary local network 300 b as utilized by a retailsubscriber 204 at a facility 208 or brand subscriber 206 at a facility210, 212, 214 as shown in FIG. 2. The local network 300 b includes thesatellite dish 302 coupled to the multi-media video satellite receiverunit 303, which is further coupled to the local server 304. An accesspoint 314 is coupled to the local server 304 and is operable towirelessly broadcast the content to the visual appliances 308 d-308 fvia the communication paths 307 d-307 f, respectively, as understood inthe art. The communication paths 307 may utilize an 802.11 wirelessnetwork protocol. In operation, the content is broadcast in accordancewith the functionality provided by the local server 304 and the visualappliances 308.

FIG. 3C is an exemplary block diagram of a visual appliance 308 of FIG.3A. The visual appliance 308 may include the electronic displaycontroller 316 in communication with the electronic display 310. Toprovide for wireless communication, the visual appliance 308 may includea wireless receiver/transmitter (Rx/Tx) unit 316 coupled to an antenna318. The wireless receiver/transmitter unit 316 and antenna 318 may betuned for frequencies utilized by the 802.11 or other wireless LANstandard as understood in the art. The electronic display controller 312may further be coupled to the wireless receiver/transmitter 316 unit toreceive and store data in a memory 320 for display on the electronicdisplay 310. It should be understood that the electronic display 310 maybe integrated with the electronic display controller 312 to form avisual appliance 308 capable of receiving, processing, storing, anddisplaying the content. Accordingly, the electronic display controller312 may include processing capability and is further discussed withregard to FIG. 3B.

Visual Appliance Positioning in Facilities

FIGS. 4A-4C are exemplary illustrations of various embodiments of thevisual appliances 308. FIG. 4A is an exemplary facility environment 400a that shows large visual appliances 308 formed of plasma screens orCRTs mounted to the ceiling. Because the ceiling-mounted visualappliances 308 are not as closely situated to products as areshelf-mounted visual appliances 308, these visual appliances 308 may beutilized for more general advertising rather than product-targetedadvertising. Because the electronic display controllers 312 may bestand-alone devices with standard video/audio output connectors, theelectronic display controllers 312 may be adapted to existing electronicdisplays 310 (e.g., televisions) to enable the subscriber 204 to displaycontent thereon. These ceiling-mounted visual appliances 308, however,may not be mapped into a traditional planogram, but may be assigned withalternative positioning values that correspond to the planogram. Itshould be understood that other configurations of CRTs and/or largeflat-panel displays may be similarly configured with an electronicdisplay controller 312 to form a visual appliance 308 that is mapped inassociation with the planogram (see, for example, FIG. 6).

FIG. 4B is an exemplary stand-alone floor display 402 that includes avisual appliance 308. Because the electronic display 310 is sufficientlylarge, multiple content and/or or advertisements may be displayedconsecutively or simultaneously. In providing for such usage, thecontent for display may be “spliced” into a single content (e.g., videoclip and/or loop) prior to distribution to reduce complexity of theelectronic display controller 312. Similar to the visual appliances 308of FIG. 3A, the stand-alone floor display 402 may not be mapped to theplanogram, but may be associated therewith.

FIG. 4C is an exemplary point-of-purchase display 400 b having fordisplaying products and configured to support visual appliances 308 iand 308 j. Because the visual appliances 308 may utilize a small,light-weight, electronic display 310, edge-mounted designs (e.g., visualappliance 308 i) and bracket-extension designs (e.g., visual appliance308 j) may be utilized to mount the visual appliances 308 to a shelf 404and a bracket 406 extending from a frame 408 of the point-of-purchasedisplay 400 b. And, because the visual appliances 308 are mounted to thepoint-of-purchase display 400 b and disposed relative to products storedthereon, the visual appliances 308 may utilize planogram positioningvalues for location and positioning information. By being able to mountor configure the visual appliances 308 to an extensive variety ofproduct display fixtures due to the ability to produce small,light-weight nature of the visual appliances 308, the subscriber 204 mayassign content to be displayed according to product and/or shelflocations as defined in the planogram of one or more facilities 208.Visual appliance 308 i is mounted to a sliding shelf mount and maytherefore be repositioned by simply sliding to another section along thesame shelf.

The visual appliances 308 may further be integrated into otherpoint-of-purchase displays 400 b, including stand-alone pricing and signdisplays, gondola displays, slat wall displays, store fixtures, glassshowcases in a fixed or movable configuration, free-standing displaystand, and cosmetic cases. It should be understood that the variety ofconfigurations for the visual appliances 308 are nearly infinite as thesize and type of the electronic display 310 and electronic displaycontroller 312 may be varied according to the fixturing and placementdesired. For example, a shelf supporting a running-shoe may utilize avisual appliance 308 having a one-inch-by-one-inch (1″×1″) electronicdisplay 310, whereas a wall located at a weightlifting product displayunit may utilize an electronic display 310 that utilizes plasmatechnology and is 48-inches-by-36-inches (48″×36″) in size.

Power Distribution Systems

FIGS. 5A, 5B, and 5C are exemplary power distribution systems thatconduct electricity to power the visual appliances 308 and enablesubscribers 204 who utilize the visual appliances 308 of FIG. 3A tomaintain aesthetically pleasing public environments. Although the sizesand power requirements for the visual appliances may be relatively low,rather than relying on batteries, rechargeable or otherwise, powerdistribution systems may be designed to conform with thepoint-of-purchasing display or fixture (e.g., shelves).

FIG. 5A is an edge-view of an exemplary power distribution system 500 athat includes a low-profile track 502 and conductive power strips 504 aand 504 b (collectively 504). The dimensions of the low-profile track502 are x-wide and y-high and are sized to allow for the visualappliance 308 to be mounted below a shelf of a point-of-purchase display400 b without substantially obstructing products being displayed.Accordingly, the low-profile track 502 extends along a shelf such thatthe visual appliance 308 coupled thereto may be slid along the track tobe disposed in relation to different products along the shelf. And,because the power strips 504 extend along the track 502, the operatormoving the visual appliance 308 does not have to contend with wires,cords, or other power connecting devices.

FIG. 5B is another exemplary power distribution system 500 b formed oftubing 506 that may operate as a support extension arm to mount andextend the visual appliance 308 from a point-of-purchase display 400 b.Side and bottom views of the power distribution system 500 b are shown,where the x-dimension of the tube 506 may be sized according to theusage. In one embodiment, the tubing 506 may be nickel-plated copper andseparated by a non-conductive material 508 to isolate the two conductivepaths. Accordingly, power adapters (e.g., plugs) may be configured tothe visual appliance 308 to receive power from the power distributionsystem 500 b. It should be understood that other, non-tubular designsmay be provided to functionally offer the same or similar powerdistribution functionality and be integrated to a support structure of apoint-of-purchase display 400 b.

FIG. 5C is yet another embodiment of a power distribution system 500 cconfigured as a support arm connector that may be mounted below a shelf,along a wall, or otherwise support a visual appliance 308. As shown, theedge view of the power distribution system 500 c shows two electricalcontacts 510 a and 510 b that provide for the power to be distributedalong the power distribution system 500 c. Again, the power distributionsystem 500 c is to be utilized for simplifying the use of the visualappliances 308 in a facility 208, such as a grocery store, that dictatesthat power cords and other non-aesthetically pleasing devices not beused in conjunction with the visual appliances 308. It should beunderstood that other power distribution systems may be utilized thatoffer simple connections (e.g., snap-on) and support for the visualappliances 308 in accordance with the principles of the presentinvention.

Planogram

Planograms are mappings of the physical layout of a facility 208, 210,212, 214 (e.g., grocery store) in order to show the specific locationsof the visual appliances 308 in accordance with the principles of thepresent invention (see FIGS. 2 and 3A). FIG. 6 is a top view of anexemplary planogram 600 of the physical layout of the facility 208providing managers of the facility 208 an image or graphicalrepresentation of the physical layout. It should be understood thatplanograms may provide different views, including perspective views(see, for example, FIG. 4C), of the physical layout to assist thefacility managers with the management of the facility. By using theplanogram 600, the facility manager may determine where to place thevisual appliances 308 in relation to particular products placed on theshelves of the facility 208.

As shown, the planogram 600 shows locations A through I, showingstructures that support products. For locations C through I, forexample, sections 1-7 are provided to account for different productsbeing placed on the physical structures C through I. Accordingly, thevisual appliances 308 may be coupled to the sections (e.g., C1-C7) todisplay content related to the products stored thereon. CR1-CR5represent cash register checkout lines, which also may have visualappliances 308 coupled thereto. The subscriber 204 that utilizes theplanogram 600 may have the values and/or the planogram 600 itselfincorporated into the system so that the determination of where to placethe visual appliances 308 based on content being shown is easier from anoperation point-of-view. Additionally, the use of planogram informationwithin the system allows the workers at the facility 208 to more easilyplace and record the placement of the visual appliances 308 via aninterface having the planogram information pre-established. It should beunderstood that the planogram 600 may allow for subsections (e.g.,C11-C16, not shown) within a given section (e.g., C1) as understood andthat the system may accommodate substantially any amount of resolutionof the planogram 600.

System Detailed Description Continued

FIG. 7A is a system diagram 700 a that shows the functional architectureof a service provider server 702 that may be used by the serviceprovider 202 (not shown) in conjunction with communication with thefacility 208 via the satellite dish 217 (see also FIGS. 2 and 3A). Theservice provider server 702 includes standard hardware components, suchas a processor, memory, input/output (I/O) unit, and storage unit (eachnot shown). The processor or processors are operable to provide for thefunctionality of the service provider server 702 as provided by thefunctional architecture 704.

In general, the service provider server 702, which may operate as acentral or distributed site, enables content management, store anddisplay management, and content distribution functionality for theservice provider 202. The service provider server 702 may be utilized toprovision new subscribers 204 and 206, facilities 208, visual appliances308, and domains for each subscriber 204. When a new subscriber 204 isset-up, a new subscriber administrator account is established. When thenew subscriber account is established, an employee designated as asubscriber administrator (not shown) may be designated to managefunctionality pertaining to the content, users, facilities 208, visualappliances 308 and domains for the subscriber. The subscriberadministrator is able to add new users to the account and assign rolesto the users, where the roles provide a way to define the systemfeatures available to the users based on responsibility of the users forthe subscriber 204.

The subscriber administrator is able to create new users and assign themroles allowing each to perform various tasks. A user may be a facilitymanager (e.g., store manager), content creator, or content approver, forexample. Each user has predefined responsibilities and access securitylevels associated with the role assigned to that user.

After the subscriber account is established and new users are createdwith appropriate security privileges, the subscriber 204 may start usingthe system. The user who has been assigned a content creator role mayupload the content through the network 220 (FIG. 2) or import thecontent via an external interface (not shown) onto a storage unit thatis accessible by the service provider server 702 and communicationsnetwork service provider 216. A user who is assigned the contentapprover role is able to review the content and approve it fordistribution. Users are able to search and view the content. A userassigned to the facility manager role may add facilities 208 and visualappliances 308 for the subscriber 204 or 206.

A user who is assigned a playlist creator role may create a playlistafter the relevant content information, facility 208, and visualappliance 308 information is added. A “playlist” is a mapping of contentto specific visual appliance(s) 308 along with associated start and endtimes.

Once content is loaded into the system and the playlist is created, thecontent is delivered to the local servers 304 via a package deliverysubsystem (not shown) from the communications network service provider216. In one embodiment, the content may be delivered via the satellite218. The content is first packaged by a content distribution managementpackage, where the term “package” refers to any data (including playlistand content) that may take the form of one or more files. Packagedelivery supports the simultaneous transmission of content to one ormore locations and the preemption of lower priority packages to ensurethe timely delivery of higher priority packages.

The service provider server 702 has modules that enable a user assigneda service provider system operator role to execute system operationfunctions ranging from asset management to monitoring performance tosecurity management. It should be understood that the service provider202 may view and perform operations on the content that is uploaded fordistribution by each subscriber 204 and 206.

The service provider server 702 provides the ability to keep track ofequipment or infrastructure communications on the communications system200, including the local servers 304, visual appliances 308, andwireless access points (not shown). A user assigned an assetadministrator role for the service provider 202 is allowed to add ordelete the assets from an asset information database. By maintainingcurrent equipment disposition information and historical logs, assetmanagement essentially provides the inventory for infrastructure locatedon the communications system 200.

The service provider server 702 provides the capabilities to monitor andmanage the local servers 304 and the visual appliances 308 from a systemperspective. The service provider 202 is able to monitor the system-widefunctionality, such as local server connectivity, local serverconfiguration, local server storage management, visual applianceactivation/deactivation, local server status check, visual appliancestatus check and local network check.

Security for the communications system 200 ensures the integrity of thecomponents and information stored thereon. To that effect, the serviceprovider server 702 provides operators of the service provider 202multiple tools to ensure that the security of the communications system200 is not breached. Apart from monitoring any unauthorized access, theoperators are responsible for creating default system-wide roles, suchas subscriber administrator, content creator, content approver, playlistcreator, verification manager, etc. In addition, the operators of theservice provider 202 may change the encryption keys for any local server304 or visual appliance 308 in real-time to ensure that an intruder hasnot compromised security keys therefor.

TABLE 1 describes the functionality provided by the functionalarchitecture 704 executed by the service provider server 702.

TABLE 1 SERVICE PROVIDER SERVER FUNCTIONALITY Ref. No. Service ProviderServer Package/User Interface Functionality Description 705 SystemManagement Coordinates and controls functionality of service providerserver 702 and ensures operability and maintenance of service 706Presentation Management Formats and handles interactions for internaland external user interfaces 708 Digital Asset Manager User InterfaceProvides a user interface for subscriber to manage digital assets by theservice provider server 702 710 Subscriber Portal Provides a portal forsubscribers 204 and 206 to upload and schedule content and accessbusiness information 712 Operations Portal Provides an interface for theservice provider to manage the system and subscribers 204 and 206 714Account Management Creates and analyzes the requirements collected forsubscriber account creation, modification, and deletion 716 Facility andVisual Appliance Management Creates records of facilities 208 and visualappliances 308 718 Provisioning Management Provisions records forfacilities and visual appliances 308 for usage by the subscribers 204and 206 720 Content Management Manages the content collection andmaintenance processes 722 Playlist Management Provides the functionalityneeded to create, modify, delete, view, and approve schedule records(data that directs the system to play particular content on a particularvisual appliance at a particular time 724 Content DistributionManagement Manages distribution of content based on the schedule records726 Asset Management Tracks and manages physical assets (e.g., localservers 304, visual appliances 308, and wireless access points 303) 728Registration Management Validates the rights for a local server 304 tooperate within the communications system 200 730 Connection ManagementControls the connection of the service provider server 402 with a localserver 304 732 Configuration Management Configures the local servers 304and visual appliances 308 at the service provider server 402 734Performance Management Collects performance statistics from thecommunications network 200, including local servers 304, visualappliances 308, and other equipment to be reported to the systemoperator for review 736 Fault Management Collects events and alarms fromthe local servers 304 and visual appliances 308 738 Session ManagementManages currently active sessions with local servers 304 and visualappliances 308 by generating user list and enabling usage 740 Loggingand Auditing Management Maintains and manages repository of logsgenerated by events and audit results 742 Reporting Management Managesreporting operations for service provider 202 and subscribers 204 and206 associated with usage of communications system 200 744 BillingManagement Provides billing operations for subscribers 204 and 206 746Security and Role Management Maintains repository for security-relatedinformation for users, local servers 304, visual appliances 308, andcommunications system 200 747 System Operations Management Provides formanagement of system functions at the service provider server 702 748Storage Manager Manages and maintains content on storage units, on localservers 304 operating on the communications system 200 749 VerificationManager Manages verification of content being displayed on visualappliances 308

FIG. 7B is an exemplary block diagram of functional architectureprovided by the local server 304 in accordance with FIGS. 2 and 3A.Similar to the service provider server 702, the local server 304includes a processor, memory, input/output (I/O) unit, and storage unit(all not shown) as understood in the art. It should be understood thatthe storage unit may be coupled to the local server 304 rather thanbeing integrated therein.

The local server 304 substantially mirrors much of the functionalarchitecture of the service provider server 702, but with more limitedfunctionality. In general, the local server 304 is operable to receivethe content from the communications network service provider 216 andcommunicate the content to the scheduled visual appliance(s) 308. Eachfacility 208 may include a local server 304. However, closely spacedfacilities 208 may share local servers 304. In response to receipt ofthe content and associated playlist, the local server 304 creates alocal schedule for the visual appliances 308 that forms the basis of thecontent distribution to the visual appliances 308. Based on the localschedule, the local server 304 either broadcasts or multicasts thecontent to specific visual appliance(s) 308 within the facility 208 overthe wireless LAN 306. In one embodiment, the wireless LAN 306 is an802.11 wireless network (i.e., wireless ethernet). Other wirelessprotocols as understood in the art alternatively may be utilized.Transmission errors from the local server 304 to the visual appliances308 are handled locally. In the case of an improper transmission, thelocal server 304 is operable to retransmit lost segments to the visualappliance 308. Polling of the visual appliances 308 by the local server304 may be performed to collect errors, alerts, and log data. In oneembodiment, when the transmission exceeds a specific threshold, an alertmessage may be generated to the service provider server 702 or othermonitoring system for corrective action.

In general, the visual appliance 308 receives content from the localserver 304 and starts playing the content in the memory 320. Inaddition, the visual appliance 308 may store a default image that may beplayed during times when no content has been scheduled for that visualappliance 308. The visual appliance 308 may forward usage logs andalerts to the local server 304, and provides interfaces, which allow theoperator of the service provider 202 to monitor and manage the visualappliance 308.

TABLE 2 describes the functionality provided by the functionalarchitecture 750 executed by the local server 304.

TABLE 2 Local Server Functionality Ref. No. Local Server PackageFunctionality Package 752 Local Server System Management Coordinates andcontrols functionality of the local server 304 and ensures operabilityand maintenance of local server 754 Registration Management Registrationby the local server 304 with the service provider server 702 atprovisioning time 756 Connection Management Controls connectionoperations with the service provider server 702 758 Configurationmanagement Manages configurations of the local server 304 and visualappliances 308 as directed by the service provider server 702 760Performance Management Collects and manages summary information ofoperations and performance of the local server 304 and visual appliances308 to be reported to the service provider server 702 762 FaultManagement Collects and generates events and alarms from the localserver 304 and visual appliances 308 for reporting to the serviceprovider server 702 764 Provisioning Interface Maintains repository forprovisioning information associated with the local server 304 and visualappliances 308 766 Package Receiver Receives packages of content andplaylists as provided to the service provider server 402 768 PackageSender Sends packages of content to visual appliances 308 770 ContentManagement Manages content at the local server 304 772 Device StatusManagement Maintains current operating status of the communicationssystem 200, including local server 304, local LAN 300b, visualappliances 308, service provider server 702, etc. 7744 Log ManagementMaintains and manages repository of logs generated by events on thecommunications system 200, including local server 304, local LAN 300b,and visual appliances 308 776 Audit/Trail Performs and maintains auditinformation from local server 304 and visual appliances 308 778 StorageManagement Manages storage of content at the local server 304 780Security Management Maintains repository for security-relatedinformation for users, local server 304, and visual appliances 308 782Playlist Scheduler Determines particular content to transmit toparticular visual appliance 308 at a particular time 784 SystemsOperations Management Provides for management of system functions at thelocal server 304 786 Verification Management Manages verification ofcontent being displayed on the visual appliance 308

FIG. 7C is an exemplary block diagram 700 b that provides for theservice provider server 702 to communicate with the local server 304 ofFIGS. 7A and 3A, respectively. As shown, the system management packages705 and 752 of the service provider server 702 and local server 304,respectively, are utilized to communicate information, such asscheduling and/or system management information, via the network 220 toenable subscribers 204 and 206 to utilize the content management anddistribution services provided by the service provider 202. It should beunderstood that other and/or additional packages may be utilized toperform communications between the service provider server 702 and thelocal server 304.

FIG. 8 is an exemplary hierarchy account structure for subscribers 204and 206 of the service provider 202. It should be understood that asubscriber may also be considered a customer. As shown, each subscriberhas an account 802 a-802 c that includes the same or similar categoricalinformation. Included in the subscriber accounts 802 are user accounts804 a-804 c (collectively 804), which allow individuals to utilize thesystem, content 806 a-806 c (collectively 806), facilities and visualappliances 808 a-808 c (collectively 808), roles 810 a-810 c(collectively 810), and storage 812 a-812 c for the users. It should beunderstood that other information for the subscriber account 802 may beutilized in providing functionality for the subscribers 204 and 206.

In general, the subscriber accounts 802 operates as a master account fora subscriber 204 without regard to the number of facilities 208associated with the subscriber 204. For example, a subscriber account802 a is created for each subscriber 204 that is a direct subscriber 204of the service provider 202. Each subscriber account 802 is assigned aunique identification number (ID) throughout the system. In addition,billing is associated with each subscriber account 802. At the creationof a new subscriber account 802, a logical directory structure may becreated to hold the content 806. The content belonging to the subscriber204 is associated to the corresponding subscriber account 802. Inaddition, a default user account 804 with a subscriber administratorrole is created for each subscriber account 802.

Multiple user accounts 804 with different roles may be created under thesubscriber account 802. The users belonging to a particular subscriberaccount 802 are able to access system functionality and objects withinthe subscriber domain. For example, users belonging to a subscriberaccount 802 for a brand subscriber 206 are able to access only thefacilities, content, visual appliances 308, etc., that have been definedunder the domain for the brand subscriber 206. A role is an aggregationof different system functionality. Users associated with specific rolesare able to access the system functionality as defined for those roleswithin the system. For example, a user assigned a content creator rolemay access the create content, modify content and delete contentfunctions. Operators for the service provider 202 are able to createroles within the system. In addition, subscriber administrators are ableto create subscriber specific roles that are applicable within theirsubscriber domain. A default set of roles are created that may beassigned to both service provider and subscriber users.

FIG. 9 is an exemplary block diagram 900 describing the functionalcomponents utilized by the account management package 714 of FIG. 7A.The account management package 714 provides for managing subscriberaccounts 802, roles of users, subscriber domains, and user accounts 804.In managing the subscriber accounts 802, the account management package714 includes subscriber account creation module 902, subscriber accountmodification module 904, and subscriber account deletion module 906.Once the subscriber accounts 802 are created, the account managementpackage 714 provides for subscriber account domain creation module 908to define the domain for each subscriber 204. Users for the subscribers204 may be created by a user account creation module 910. Once the useraccount 804 is created, the user account 804 may be modified by the useraccount modification module 912 and deleted by the user account deletionmodule 914. The user may then be defined roles, whereby a role definesthe features available to the users based on the area of responsibilitywithin the organization of the subscriber 204. In managing the roles, arole creation module 916, role modification module 918, and roledeletion module 920 are provided.

FIG. 10 is an exemplary sequence diagram 1000 that illustrates thecreation of a new subscriber account 802 as provided by the subscriberaccount creation module 902 of FIG. 9. The step numbers and associatedactions are provided in TABLE 3 below. As shown, in performing theaccount management, an actor 1002, which may be a user of the serviceprovider 202, interacts with a service provider (SP) account manageruser interface (UI) module 1004. The service provider account manageruser interface module 1004 may interact with other modules, including aservice provider account manager module 1006, service provider securitymanager module 1008, and service provider content manager module 1010.

TABLE 3 New Subscriber Account Creation Flow STEP ACTION 1012 Requestaccount creation form 1014 Display account creation form 1016 Create newaccount 1018 Create new account 1020 Display create subscriberadministrator form 1022 Create subscriber administrator 1024 Createsubscriber administrator 1026 Get default security role for subscriberadministrator 1028 Associate the newly created subscriber administratorwith the default security role 1030 Create directory structure for newsubscriber account

In operation, the actor 1002 requests an account creation form at step1012 from the service provider account manager user interface module1004. The service provider account manager user interface module 1004may display an account creation form at step 1014. The actor 1002 mayutilize the account creation form to create a new subscriber account atstep 1016. In creating the new subscriber account 802, the serviceprovider account manager user interface module 1004 displays the accountcreation form, which requests subscriber name, address, e-mail domain,contact number list, contact person list, subscriber ID, andsubscription ID, for example. The system automatically generates a usersubscriber identifier (ID) for the new subscriber account 802. At step1018, the service provider account manager user interface module 1004may initiate a request to the service provider account manager module1006 to create a new subscriber account 802. The service provideraccount manager user interface module 1004 may thereafter display acreate subscriber administrator form for the actor 1002 at step 1020. Atstep 1022, the actor 1002 may create a subscriber administrator. Theservice provider account manager user interface module 1004 maycommunicate a request to the service provider account manager module1006 to create a subscriber administrator at step 1024. At step 1026,the service provider account manager module 1006 may get a defaultsecurity role for the subscriber administrator being created from theservice provider security manager module 1008. At step 1028, the newlycreated subscriber administrator is associated with a default securityrole by the service provider account manager module 1006. At step 1030,a directory structure for the new subscriber account 802 is created bythe service provider account manager module 1006 notifying the serviceprovider content manager module 1010. The default user account mayinclude the following attributes: user name, password, position, contactnumber, e-mail address, subscriber ID, and subscription ID. After thesubscriber account 802 is created, the subscriber account modificationmodule 904 and subscriber account deletion module 906 allow the serviceprovider 202 the ability to modify and/or delete the subscriber account802 by utilizing the components 1004-1010 as understood in the art.

FIG. 11 is an exemplary sequence diagram 1100 illustrating the creationof a new subscriber domain by the subscriber domain creation module 908of FIG. 9. The step numbers and associated actions are provided in TABLE4 below. A subscriber domain is a collection of subscriber facilities208 and visual appliances 308 belonging to that subscriber 204 and areused to specify the context within which security roles of users areapplicable. For example, the subscriber 204 may create a “northeast”domain comprising all stores for that subscriber in the northeasternUnited States. Subsequently, a user assigned a content approver role andhaving access to the northeast domain is limited to approving contentintended for facilities 208 or stores in the northeast domain.

TABLE 4 New Subscriber Domain Creation Flow STEP ACTION 1106 Requestdomain creation form for subscriber 1108 Request session information1110 Request subscriber and visual appliance information 1112 Requestlist of subscriber facilities and visual appliances 1114 Send list ofsubscriber facilities and visual appliances 1116 Display form 1118Create domain 1120 Create domain

The subscriber domain creation module 908 utilizes a service providersession manager module 1102 and service provider facility manager module1104 in addition to the actor 1002, service provider account manageruser interface module 1004, and service provider account manager module1006. In creating the new subscriber domain, a request from the actor1002 to the service provider account manager user interface module 1004is performed at step 1106 for a domain creation form. The serviceprovider account manager user interface module 1004 issues a request tothe service provider session manager module 1102 for sessioninformation. Additionally, the service provider account manager userinterface module 1004 issues a request to the service provider accountmanager module 1006 for information associated with the subscriber 204and visual appliance 308. At step 1112, the service provider accountmanager module 1006 requests a list of subscriber facilities 208 andvisual appliances 308 from the service provider facility manager module1104.

At step 1114, the list of subscriber facilities 208 and visualappliances 308 are sent from the service provider account manager module1006 to the service provider account manager user interface module 1004.The service provider account manager user interface module 1004 displaysa form with the list of subscriber facilities 208 and visual appliances308 to the actor 1002 at step 1116. At step 1118, the actor 1002 createsa domain for the subscriber 204 by selecting the facilities 208 and/orvisual appliances 308 and provides the domain name and description tothe service provider account manager user interface module 1004. At step1120, the domain of the subscriber 204 is created by the serviceprovider account manager user interface module 1004 issuing a notice tothe service provider account manager module 1006.

FIG. 12 is a sequence diagram 1200 that illustrates the creation of anew user account as provided by the user account creation module 910 ofFIG. 9. The step numbers and associated actions are provided in TABLE 5below. Prior to establishing the user account, the actor 1002 is to beauthenticated and authorized to access user creation functionality forthe subscriber 204. The creation of a new user account for a subscriber204 is a three-step process. In the first step, the actor 1002 providesthe user attributes, including, but not limited to, user name, password,user contact information, e-mail address, subscriber ID, subscriptionID, etc., to enable the creation of the user account by the serviceprovider account manager module 1006. In addition, the accountadministrators of the service provider 202 are able to define thefollowing attributes for a user account: division, department, contactnumber, address, and status, for example. The system creates a unique IDfor each user of the subscriber 204. The system also is able to verifythat the e-mail address entered matches the e-mail domain of thatsubscriber 204. In the second step, the actor 1002 selects the list ofsecurity roles to which the newly created user should access and submitthis information. Each user has access to at least one role. In thethird step, the actor 1002 chooses the domains, (i.e., group offacilities 208) for that subscriber 204 that the newly created user hasaccess and submits this selection. By default, new user accounts aremarked “inactive” and are unavailable for use. After the creator of theuser accounts marks the newly created account as “active”, the new useraccount is available for use.

TABLE 5 New User Account Creation Flow STEP ACTION 1202 Request add newuser form 1204 Request session information 1206 Display create user form1208 Create new user 1210 Create new user for that subscriber 1212Request list of security roles to which user can belong 1214 Get list ofsecurity roles 1216 Display list of security roles 1218 Select securityrole(s) to which user belongs 1220 Add user to security role(s) 1222 Adduser to security role(s) 1224 Request list of domains for thatsubscriber 1226 Display list of domains 1228 Select subscriber domainsuser can access 1230 Select domains user can access 1232 Applypermissions allowing user to access selected domains

As shown, at step 1202, a request by the actor 1002 via the serviceprovider account manager user interface module 1004 for an add new userform is performed. At step 1204, the service provider account manageruser interface module 1004 requests session information from the serviceprovider session manager module 1102. At step 1206, the service provideraccount manager user interface module 1004 displays a create user formfor the actor 1002. The actor 1002 creates a new user by providing theuser name, password, contact information, subscriber ID, etc., in thecreate user form. The service provider account manager user interfacemodule 1004 creates a new user for the subscriber 204 by sending theinformation to the service provider account manager module 1006.Additionally, the service provider account manager user interface module1004 requests a list of security roles that the user is assigned at step1212. The service provider account manager module 1006 requests a listsof security roles from the service provider security manager module 1008at step 1214.

At step 1216, the service provider account manager user interface module1004 displays a list of security roles to the actor 1002. The actor 1002selects security roles that the user is assigned at step 1218 and addsthe user at step 1220. The service provider account manager userinterface module 1004 communicates to the service provider accountmanager module 1006 security roles for the user account being created.At step 1222, the service provider account manager module 1006 adds auser to the security role(s) by informing the service provider securitymanager module 1008.

The service provider account manager user interface module 1004 requestsa list of domains available for the subscriber 204 from the serviceprovider account manager module 1006 at step 1224. At step 1226, theservice provider account manager user interface module 1004 displays thelist of domains to the actor 1002. The actor selects subscriber domainsthat the user may access at step 1228. At step 1230, the selecteddomains that the user may access are communicated to the serviceprovider account manager module 1006 at step 1230. At step 1232,permissions allowing the user to access selected domains are applied tothe user account by the service provider security manager module 1008.In addition to creating the user account, the user accounts may bemodified and deleted by the actor 1002 by utilizing the service providerserver 702 as understood in the art by utilizing the management tools asdiscussed herein.

FIG. 13 is an exemplary sequence diagram 1300 illustrating the adding ofa new security role by the role creation module 916 of FIG. 9. The stepnumbers and associated actions are provided in TABLE 6 below. To add thenew security role, a service provider role manager user interface module1302 and service provider role manager module 1304 are utilized. At step1306, the actor 1002 requests a new role creation form from the serviceprovider role manager user interface 1302. The service provider rolemanager interface user 1302 requests session information from theservice provider session manager module 1102. Additionally, the serviceprovider role manager user interface 1302 requests a list of features tobe assigned to a role from the service provider role manager module 1304at step 1310. At step 1312, the new role creation form is displayed forthe actor 1002 by the service provider role manager user interface 1302.

TABLE 6 New Security Role Creation Flow STEP ACTION 1306 Request newrole creation form 1308 Request session information 1310 Request list offeatures to be assigned to a role 1312 Display form 1314 Create new role1316 Create new role 1318 Make new role available

At step 1314, the new role is created by the actor 1002 providing a newrole name, list of features for this role, and type of access to thosefeatures. At step 1316, the service provider role manager user interface1302 creates a new role by notifying the service provider role managermodule 1304. At step 1318, the service provider role manager module 1304notifies the service provider security manager module 1008 and the newrole is made available. It should be understood that the roles may bemodified and deleted as understood in the art utilizing the componentsas described herein.

TABLE 7 below is an exemplary table that provides for a mapping of theuser roles with the functionality available to the service provider 202in managing user accounts for the subscribers 204. As shown, the rolesthat are indicated are default roles for subscriber user accounts 804and that the roles and functionality may be modified accordingly.Additionally, it should be understood that the list is not exhaustiveand that other or different roles may be added based on business rulesdesired by the service provider 202 and subscribers 204 and 206. Thesubscribers 204 are able to access system functionality within thedomain of the subscriber 204 while the service provider 202 is able toaccess system functionality across multiple subscriber accounts 802.

TABLE 7 Default User Roles for Service Provider Users Account ContentPlaylist Provision Asset System Functionality Adm. Adm. Adm. Adm. Adm.Operator Create Content X X Modify Content X X Delete Content X X ViewContent X X Assign Access Rights to Content X X Approve Content X XCreate Directory X X Delete Directory X X Apply Permissions to DirectoryX X Move Directory X X Delegate Authority X X Search Content X X CreatePlaylist X X Modify Playlist X X Delete Playlist X X Approve Playlist XX View Playlist X X Search Playlist X X Create User X X Modify User X XView User X X Delete User X X Search Users X X Create Subscriber AccountX X Modify Subscriber Account X X View Subscriber Account X X DeleteSubscriber Account X X Create Subscriber Administrator X X CreateSecurity Role X X Modify Security Role X X Delete Security Role X XAssign Security Role X X Create Subscriber Specific X X Domains Setpassword expiration and X X password recovery rules Reset user passwordsX X Create Facility X X Modify Facility X X Delete Facility X X ViewFacility X X Provision Facility X X Unprovision Facility X X Create VA XX Modify VA X X Delete VA X X View VA X X Provision VA X X UnprovisionVA X X Add Asset X X View Asset X X Modify Asset X X Delete Asset X X LSStatus Query X VA Status Query X Retrieve Logs X Storage Capacity QueryX Retrieve LS Configuration Data X Retrieve VA Configuration Data XDelete LS Files X Retrieve VA Schedule on LS X Retrieve VA list X ApplyLS Software Upgrade X Apply VA Software Upgrade X Retrieve Alerts XReplace VA Default Image X Modify LS System Parameters X Change LSEncryption Key X Change VA Encryption Key X VA Operating Status Change X

TABLE 8 is an exemplary table that defines user roles for users of thesubscribers 204 and 206, where the functionality for each of the usersare predefined. It should be understood that different functionality maybe made available to different users of subscriber 204 by anadministrator for the subscriber 204 or service provider 202.

TABLE 8 Default User Roles for Subscriber Users Subscriber ContentContent Content Playlist Playlist Facility Facility Functionality Adm.Creator Approver Adm. Creator Approver Manager Operator Create Content XX X X Modify Content X X X X Delete Content X X X X View Content X X X XAssign Access X X Rights to Content Approve Content X X X CreateDirectory X Delete Directory X Apply Permissions X to Directory MoveDirectory X Delegate Authority X X Search Content X X X X CreatePlaylist X X X Modify Playlist X X X Delete Playlist X X X ApprovePlaylist X X View Playlist X X X Search Playlist X X Create User X X XModify User X X X View User Delete User

FIG. 14 is an exemplary block diagram 1400 providing for the facilityand visual appliance manager package 416. Facility and visual appliancemanagement involves the creation of records for facilities 208 andvisual appliances 308 by a subscriber 204. Before an operator of theservice provider 202 may provision a facility 208 or visual appliance308 for use, the subscriber 204 creates or defines the facilities 208and visual appliances 308. The subscriber 204 is able to create recordsfor visual appliances 308 within the facilities 208 defined by theretail subscriber 204 or facilities 208 defined by other brandsubscribers 206 that the managers have access for creating records forvisual appliances 308. The records of the facilities 208 created by theretail subscribers 204 within their domain are called “primary stores”,whereas the facilities 208 that belong to a domain of another retailsubscriber 204 to which they have access to create visual appliances 308are called “secondary stores”. In other words, a brand subscriber 206(e.g., manufacturer) may have the ability to create visual appliances308 within facilities 208 of retail subscribers 204 (e.g., retail chainstores). For example, a large manufacturer of a consumer product, may bea brand subscriber 206 and control visual appliances 308 that aredefined and established in a variety of grocery and retail stores. Thebrand subscriber 206 therefore may be provided access to the facilities208 of the retail subscribers 204.

In addition, the retail subscribers 204 may also specify the list ofvalid location IDs for the visual appliances 308 within the facility 208and assign the defined location IDs to the visual appliances 308. Asunderstood in the art, valid locations within a facility 208, such as aretail store, may be defined by the planogram 600, where thepoint-of-purchase displays 400 b, such as shelves, are mapped andproducts placed on the storage space are associated with particularlocations within the retail store. Retail subscribers 204 may alsomodify and search facilities 208 and visual appliances 308 and deleteunprovisioned facilities 208 and visual appliances 308.

As shown, modules may be included with the facility and visual appliancemanagement package 416 for defining and modifying facilities 208 andvisual appliances 308. Such modules may include a facility creationmodule 1402, facility modification module 1404, and facility deletionmodule 1406. Modules to provide for the visual appliances 308 include avisual appliance creation module 1408, visual appliance modificationmodule 1410, and visual appliance deletion module 1412. Additionally,searching modules, including a visual appliance searching module 1414and facility searching module 1416 allow the operator to search thedefined visual appliances 308 and facilities 208, respectively.

FIG. 15 is an exemplary sequence diagram 1500 illustrating the creationand saving of a facility 208 within the service provider server 402 ofFIG. 7A. The step numbers and associated actions are provided in TABLE 9below. To create the facility 208, the actor 1002 is to haveauthentication and authorization privileges to access the facilitycreation module 1402. Accordingly, the subscriber account 802 has beenpreviously created for the retail subscriber 204 for which the facility208 is being created.

TABLE 9 Facility Creation Flow STEP ACTION 1508 Facility creationrequest 1510 Get session information 1512 Facility creation form 1514Enter facility information 1516 Syntax and semantics check 1518 Savefacility information 1520 Ready for provisioning 1522 Facility created

To define the facility 208 and visual appliances 308, a service providerfacility user interface module 1502, service provider facility manager1504, and service provider provisioning manager module 1506 areutilized. At step 1508, the actor 1002 requests creation of a facility208 to the service provider facility user interface 1502. At step 1510,a service provider facility user interface 1502 gets session informationfrom the service provider session manager module 1102. The serviceprovider facility user interface 1502 provides a facility creation formto the actor 1002 at step 1512.

At step 1514, the actor 1002 enters facility information, includinglocation name, address, contact person, subscriber ID, etc. At step1516, the service provider facility user interface 1502 performs asyntax and semantics check of the facility information entered. Theservice provider facility user interface 1502 saves the facilityinformation by communicating with the service provider facility managermodule 1104 at step 1518. The service provider facility manager module1104 notifies the service provider provisioning manager module 1506 thatthe facility 208 is ready for provisioning at step 1520. At step 1522,the service provider facility user interface 1502 notifies the actor1002 that the facility has been created in the system.

FIG. 16 is an exemplary sequence diagram 1600 that illustrates thecreation and saving of a visual appliance 308 within the serviceprovider server 702 of FIG. 7A. The step numbers and associated actionsare provided in TABLE 10 below. In creating a facility 208, the user oractor 1002 is to be authenticated and authorized to access the facilitycreation module 1402. Additionally, the subscriber account 802 is tohave been previously created for the subscriber 204 for whom thefacility 208 is being created.

TABLE 10 Visual Appliance Creation Flow STEP ACTION 1602 Requestfacility list 1604 Get session information 1606 Get all facilities forthe user 1608 Facility list 1610 Select facility and request visualappliance creation 1612 Visual appliance creation form 1614 Enter visualappliance information 1616 Syntax and semantics check 1618 Save visualappliance information 1620 Ready for provisioning 1622 Visual appliancecreated

The managers of the facilities 208 are able to create a new facility 208within the system, where the facilities 208 are defined as primarystores belonging to that subscriber account 802. In addition, users ofthe service provider 202 having a provisioning administrator role areable to create new facilities for the subscribers 204. At the time ofcreation, users enter facility information, such as site, ID, facilityor store name, address, subscriber ID, facility contact person name,contact person phone number, facility open hours, facility planogram,valid locations of visual appliances 308, etc. The system generates aunique identifier for each new facility 208 that is added. Each newfacility 208 that is added is, by default, in the “unprovisioned” stateuntil a new facility is “provisioned”. Provisioning managers of theservice provider 202 are able to add subscriber IDs for thosesubscribers 204 and may create visual appliances 308 in the facilities208. For these subscribers 204, the facility 208 is defined as“secondary facilities”. The users may then enter a minimum set ofinformation when creating the facility 208.

In operation, the actor 1002 requests a facility list from the serviceprovider facility user interface 1502 at step 1602. At step 1604, theservice provider facility user interface 1502 requests sessioninformation from the service provider session manager module 1102. Atstep 1606, the service provider facility user interface 1502 requeststhe facilities 208 of the actor 1002 from the service provider facilitymanager module 1104. At step 1608, the service provider facility userinterface 1502 provides the facility list to the actor 1002.

At step 1610, a facility is selected and a request to create a visualappliance 308 is made to the service provider facility user interface1502. At step 1612, a visual appliance creation form is provided fromthe service provider facility user interface 1502 to the actor 1002. Theactor may then enter visual appliance information at step 1614, wherethe visual appliance information may include a visual appliance name,type, location, resolution, IP address, subscription ID, etc. At step1616, the service provider facility user interface 1502 performs asyntax and semantics check on the visual appliance information entered.The visual appliance information may then be saved with the serviceprovider facility manager module 1104 at step 1618. At step 1620, theservice provider facility manager module 1104 may notify the serviceprovider provisioning manager module 1506 that the visual applicant isready for provisioning. Accordingly, the service provider facility userinterface 1502 may notify the actor 1002 that the visual appliance hasbeen created at step 1622. It should be understood that modification anddeletion of the facilities may be performed utilizing the same ordifferent modules provided for creating the facilities as understood inthe art. Similarly, searches may be performed for the facilities by thefacility managers and/or users by the service provider 202.

FIG. 17 is an exemplary sequence diagram 1700 that illustrates a searchfor visual appliances 308 by subscribers 204 and 206 of FIG. 2. The stepnumbers and associated actions are provided in TABLE 11 below. Searchesfor the visual appliances 308 may be performed by the subscribers 204and 206 for inventory, verification, accounting, planning, andscheduling purposes, for example. The actor 1002 may be a facilitymanager, facility operator, and service provider provisioningadministrator.

TABLE 11 Visual Appliance Search Flow STEP ACTION 1702 Request newsearch 1704 Get session information 1706 Get allowed search fields 1708Search form 1710 Enter search criteria 1712 Get visual appliances foractor 1714 Provide Facility list to actor 1716 Request visual appliancedetails 1718 Get visual appliance details 1720 Provide visual appliancedetails

At step 1702, the actor 1002 requests a new search from the serviceprovider facility user interface 1502. At step 1704, the serviceprovider facility user interface 1502 requests session information fromthe service provider session manager module 1102. Additionally, theservice provider facility user interface 1502 requests allowedsearchable fields based on the defined role for the actor 1002 from theservice provider facility manager module 1104 at step 1706. At step 1708a search form is provided to the actor 1002.

At step 1710, the actor 1002 enters search criteria into the searchform. The service provider facility user interface 1502 requests visualappliances 308 for the user from the service provider facility managermodule 1104 at step 1712. A list of visual appliances 308 includes thefacilities that match the entered criteria and a facility list isprovided to the actor 1002 at step 1714. The actor 1002 may requestvisual appliance details from the service provider facility userinterface 1502 at step 1716 and visual appliance details are requestedfrom the service provider facility manager module 1104 at step 1718. Thedetails of the visual appliances 308 that are provided to the actor 1002at step 1720 depend on the role of the actor 1002.

FIG. 18 depicts the provisioning management package 718 that providesfor provisioning of local servers 304 and visual appliances 308 on theservice provider server 702 of FIG. 7A. To provision local servers 304,a local server provisioning module 1802, local server provisioninginformation modification module 1804, local server provisioning statuscheck 1806, local server installation module 1808, and local serverunprovisioning module 1810 are available. To handle provisioning ofvisual appliances, a visual appliances 308 provisioning module 1812,visual appliance provisioning information modification module 1814,visual appliance provisioning status check module 1816, visual applianceinstallation module 1818, and visual appliance unprovisioning module1820 are available. Each of these modules may be utilized by the serviceprovider 202 and/or subscriber 204 to handle provisioning operations forthe local server 304 and visual appliance 308 that are to be installedand uninstalled within facilities 208 of a subscriber 204 and 206.

FIG. 19 is an exemplary sequence diagram 1900 that illustrates addingprovisioning information for the local server 304 within a facility 208that has already been created at the service provider server 702 of FIG.7A. The step numbers and associated actions are provided in TABLE 12below. In this case, the actor 1002 may be the provisioningadministrator of the service provider 202 and is to be authenticated andauthorized to access the local server provisioning module 1802. Thefacility 208 has been created and has been marked ready forprovisioning.

TABLE 12 Facility Provisioning Flow STEP ACTION 1908 Request facilityfor provisioning 1910 Get facilities that are ready for provisioning1912 Facilities list 1914 Select facility and enter provisioninginformation 1916 Save provisioning information 1918 Request encryptionkey 1920 Generate encryption key 1922 Update store and provisioninginformation 1924 Update provisioning information 1926 Facilityprovisioning information created

A minimum set of information is to be entered for the facility 208before it is marked ready for provisioning. The provisioning informationmay include local server serial ID, IP addresses (for communicating withthe service provider server 702 and WLAN access points), communicationsnetwork service provider remote equipment ID, site ID, subscriber ID,installation schedule, name and contact information of the installer,etc.

In provisioning the local server 304, the service provider server 702utilizes a service provider provisioning user interface module 1902,service provider local information manager module 1904, and registrationmanager module 1906. The local server provisioning process starts atstep 1908 with the actor 1002 requesting facilities 208 for provisioningfrom the service provider provisioning user interface 1902. The serviceprovider provisioning user interface 1902 requests facilities that areready for provisioning from the service provider facility manager module1104. At step 1912, the service provider provisioning user interface1902 provides a facilities list to the actor 1002. The actor 1002selects a facility 208 and enters provisioning information utilizing theservice provider provisioning user interface 1902 at step 1914. At step1916, the service provider provisioning user interface 1902 saves theprovisioning information with the service provider provisioning managermodule 1506.

At step 1918, the service provider provisioning manager module 1506requests an encryption key to be used by the local server 304 tocommunicate with the service provider server 402 upon establishingconnection for the first time. At step 1920, the service providersecurity manager module 1008 generates an encryption key. At step 1922,the service provider provisioning manager module 1506 updates thefacility and provisioning information to be sent to the local server 304after registration by notifying the service provider local informationmanager module 1904. The facility and provisioning information mayinclude facility open hours, associated visual appliance lists, etc. Atstep 1924, the service provider provisioning manager module 1506 updatesthe provisioning information with the registration manager module 1906,where the provisioning information may include local server ID, site ID,subscriber ID, and encryption key. At step 1926, the service providerprovisioning user interface 1902 notifies the actor 1002 that thefacility provisioning information has been created. It should beunderstood that the actor 1002 may additionally perform modification andstatus checks on the provision facility.

FIG. 20 is an exemplary sequence diagram 2000 that illustrates addingprovisioning information for a visual appliance 308 of FIG. 3A that hasalready been created by the service provider 202. The step numbers andassociated actions are provided in TABLE 13 below. A provisioningadministrator of the service provider 202 operating as the actor 1002 isto be authenticated and authorized to access the visual applianceprovisioning module 1812. The facility 208 has been created and markedas being ready for provisioning. A minimum set of information is to beentered for the visual appliance 308 before being marked ready forprovisioning, such as visual appliance location, size, etc. Theprovisioning information also may include a visual appliance IP address,local server IP address, subscription ID, installation schedule, nameand contact information of the installer, etc.

TABLE 13 Visual Appliance Provisioning Flow STEP ACTION 2002 Requestvisual appliances for provisioning 2004 Get visual appliances that areready for provisioning 2006 Visual appliance list 2008 Select visualappliance and enter provisioning information 2010 Save provisioninginformation 2012 Request encryption key 2014 Generate encryption key2016 Update visual appliance and provisioning information 2018 Visualappliance provisioning information created

In particular, the actor 1002 requests visual appliances 308 availablefor provisioning at step 2002 from the service provider provisioninginterface 1902. At step 2004, the service provider provisioning userinterface 1902 requests a list of visual appliances that are ready forprovisioning from the service provider facility manager module 1104. Atstep 2006, the service provider provisioning user interface 1902provides the actor 1002 with a list of visual appliances available forprovisioning. The actor 1002 may select one or more visual appliances308 and enter provisioning information at step 2008. At step 2010, theservice provider provisioning user interface 1902 saves the provisioninginformation via the service provider provisioning manager module 1506.

At step 2012, the service provider provisioning manger module 1506requests an encryption key for the visual appliance 308 to communicatewith the local server 304 when establishing connection for the firsttime. The service provider security manager module 1008 generates anencryption key at step 2014 in response to the request for theencryption by the service provider provisioning manager module 1506. Atstep 2016, the service provider provisioning manager module 1506 updatesthe visual appliance and provisioning information to be sent to thelocal server 304 for registration of the visual appliance size, visualappliance location, subscriber ID, and encryption key. Additionally,other visual appliance attributes, such as visual appliance memory,resolution, etc., may be sent to the location information manager module1904 for communication of the information to the local server 304.Accordingly, the service provider provisioning user interface 1902notifies the actor 1002 that the visual appliance provisioninginformation has been created at step 2018.

FIG. 21 is an exemplary sequence diagram 2100 that illustratesinstallation of a visual appliance 308 that has been provisioned at theservice provider server 702 of FIG. 7A. The step numbers and associatedactions are provided in TABLE 14 below. The installer for the serviceprovider 202 enters information into the visual appliance 308. Morespecifically, the actor 1002 is able to engage a visual appliance userinterface module 2102 provided directly on the visual appliance 308 viaan input device or element, such as a touch screen as understood in theart or other control device (e.g., keyboard, remote wireless device, andbarcode scanner). Alternatively, the visual appliance user interface2102 may be located at the service provider server 702 or local server304. In addition to the input element being utilizable for installationpurposes, the visual appliance 308 may provide interactive applications,such as surveys or recipe database, that consumers at a facility 208 mayengage via the input element. An output device, such as a printer,integrated or external from the visual appliance 308, may enable theconsumer to receive requested or other information, such as coupons orrecipes.

A visual appliance configuration manager module 2104 and visualappliance registration manager module 2106 may also be utilized ininstalling the visual appliance 308. At step 2108, the actor 1002 mayenter configuration information for the visual appliance 308. Theconfiguration information may include subscriber ID, password, locationID, visual appliance IP address, local server IP address, subscriptionID, location name, and planogram information, into the visual applianceuser interface 2102 via the touch screen of the visual appliance 308. Ifthe visual appliance is connected to an external electronic display 310,then the installer enters size and resolution of the electronic display310. In entering the installation information, a graphical userinterface may provide entry elements, such as pop-up windows ordrop-down menus. Alternatively, simple text entry may be utilized. Stillyet, a pen-based entry system may be provided. The serial ID, MACaddress, size, type, and subscriber ID is sent to the local server 304by the visual appliance 308. At step 2110, the visual appliance userinterface 2102 may save the configuration of the visual appliance 308via the visual appliance configuration manager module 2104. Completionof the configuration may prompt a notification from the visual applianceuser interface 2102 to the actor 1002 at step 2112.

TABLE 14 Visual Appliance Installation Flow STEP ACTION 2108 Enterconfiguration 2110 Save configuration 2112 Completion notification 2114Registration request 2116 Send registration request to local server 2118Registration request 2120 Registration confirmation 2122 Notifyregistration status 2124 Registration status

At step 2114, the actor 1002 may request registration for the visualappliance 308. The visual appliance user interface 2102 may send theregistration request to the local server 304 via the visual applianceregistration manager module 2106. The local server 304 may receive theregistration request at step 2118 from the visual appliance registrationmanager module 2106 and utilize the information to validate and registerthe visual appliance 308 when the visual appliance 308 communicates withthe local server 304 for the first time. The service provider 202verifies that the information is received prior to installation of thevisual appliances 308. The information may include local server serialID, IP addresses, encryption key, subscriber ID, subscription ID,planogram information, facility location, etc. At step 2120, the localserver 304 may confirm registration to the visual appliance registrationmanager module 2106. The registration status may be communicated to thevisual appliance user interface 2102 at step 2122 and to the actor 1002at step 2124 by the visual appliance user interface 2102. The visualappliance 308 is thereby provisioned and ready for installation at afacility 208.

It should be understood that the visual appliance may additionally beunprovisioned that has been installed in a facility 208 and registeredat the local server 304 and service provider server 702 by aprovisioning administrator of the service provider 202. Once the visualappliance 308 is unprovisioned, the local server 304 is updated. Uponreceiving the unprovisioned notification, the local server 304 updatesthe records and deregisters the visual appliance 308. The local server304 may thereafter stop monitoring the visual appliance 308 uponbecoming deregistered. The manager of the facility 208 also is informedby the service provider provisioning manager module 1506 about theunprovisioning status of the visual appliance 308.

Referring now to FIG. 22, the content management package 720 allows thecreation and management of content. Using the content management package720, users are able to upload multimedia files, modify content property,view content, and assign permission for that content. Users are alsoable to submit content for approval by the content approvers of thesubscriber 204.

To ease the management of the content, users are allowed to createlogical trial directories to segregate the content as understood in theart. Content and subscriber administrators are able to create trialdirectories and assign security privileges thereto. Each content recordmay comprise one multimedia file and belongs to one directory/trialdirectory. For security purposes, content records are not shared betweendifferent subscribers 204 and 206. The content management package 720utilizes multiple functionality modules. For managing the content.

More specifically, FIG. 22 is an exemplary block diagram showing thecontent management package 720 that is utilized by the subscribers 204and 206 to manage content as understood in the art. As shown, thecontent management package 720 includes a content creation module 2202,content modification module 2204, content deletion module 2206, contentsubmission for approval module 2208, content approval module 2210,content search module 2212, and content permission change module 2214.Additionally, the content management package 720 includes the ability tomanage the content via a directory structure as understood in the art,utilizing a directory creation module 2216, child directory move module2218, directory authority delegation module 2220, directory permissionapplication module 2222, and directory deletion module 2224.

FIG. 23 is an exemplary sequence diagram 2300 for illustrating creationof content for distribution on the communications system 200. The stepnumbers and associated actions are provided in TABLE 15 below. The actor1002 may be a user of the subscriber 204 and 206, including a contentcreator, content approver, and/or content administrator. Additionally,the actor 1002 may be a content administrator of the service provider202. The actor 1002 is to be authenticated and authorized to access thecontent in order to utilize the create content functionality.

TABLE 15 Content Creation Flow STEP ACTION 2304 Request upload form 2306Request session information 2308 Display form 2310 Upload content 2312Send content information 2314 Save content 2316 Apply permissions of theparent directory

The actor 1002 requests an upload form from the service provider contentmanager user interface module 2302 at step 2304. The service providercontent manager user interface 2302, in turn, requests sessioninformation from the service provider session manager module 1102 atstep 2306. At step 2308, the service provider content manager userinterface 2302 displays the upload form for the actor 1002 to uploadcontent via the service provider content manager user interface 2302.The uploading of the content involves uploading the multi-media file,adding attributes thereto, and mapping the content to a directory. Thecontent may be added attributes, including content name, file ID, filename, file description, expiration date, creator name, subscriberaccount, creation time, modification history, file path, file type, filesize, resolution, aspect ratio, visual appliance type list, facilitylist, status, meta data, and clearance, for example. For each content, aunique content ID and file ID is also generated. The system also maydeduce the following information for each content, file ID, file path,file type, file size, creation time, modified history, resolution,aspect ratio, subscriber account, and creator name, for example. Bydefault, each content may utilize an uploaded multimedia file. Further,by default, the status of each content is set as “inactive” andclearance is assigned “unapproved”. The content information is sent bythe service provider content manager user interface 2302 to the serviceprovider content manager module 2303 at step 2312. The service providercontent manager module 2303 saves the content at step 2314, and at step2316, permissions of the parent directory are applied to the content.Accordingly, content modification and deletion may also be performed inaccordance with the principles of the present invention and asunderstood in the art.

FIG. 24 is an exemplary sequence diagram 2400 illustrating submission ofcontent for approval by a user designated as content approver for thesubscriber 204 of FIG. 2. The step numbers and associated actions areprovided in TABLE 16 below. The content approver is charged withapproving content deemed acceptable to a subscriber 204 or 206 fordisplay at a facility 208 associated with the subscriber 204 or 206. Inproviding for the approval submission, a service provider notificationmanager module 2402 is utilized in conjunction with other modules. Theprocess starts at step 2404 where the actor 1002 requests unsubmitted orunapproved content records from the service provider content manageruser interface 2302. At step 2406, the service provider content manageruser interface 2302 requests session information from the serviceprovider session manager module 1102. At step 2408, the service providercontent manager user interface 2302 requests unsubmitted content recordsfor the actor 1002 from the service provider content manager module2303. The unsubmitted content records are provided to the actor 1002 bythe service provider content manager user interface 2302 at step 2410.

TABLE 16 Content Submission for Approval Flow STEP ACTION 2404 Requestunsubmitted content records 2406 Get session information 2408 Requestunsubmitted content records for that actor 2410 Return unsubmittedcontent records 2412 Submit content record(s) for approval 2414 Submitcontent record(s) for approval 2416 Content record is available forapproval 2418 Get list of approvers for subscriber 2420 Notifyapprover(s)

At step 2412, the content record(s) are submitted for approval by theactor 1002 to the service provider content manager user interface 2302.At step 2414, the service provider content manager users interface 2302submits content record(s) for approval to the service provider contentmanager module 2303. The content record is set to be available forapproval at step 2416. At step 2418, the service provider contentmanager module 2303 requests a list of approver(s) for the subscriber204 and the service provider content manager module 2303 notifies theapprover(s) of the content being available for approval. In notifyingthe approver(s), an e-mail or other notification may be communicatedeither actively or passively to the approvers at step 2420.Additionally, the service provider content manager module 2303 may markthe content as “awaiting approval”.

FIG. 25 is an exemplary sequence diagram 2500 illustrating the approvalprocess for the content to be broadcast by the subscriber 204 of FIG. 2.The step numbers and associated actions are provided in TABLE 17 below.The actor 1002 may be a user from the subscriber 204 or 206 (e.g.,content approver or content administrator) and/or a contentadministrator from the service provider 202. The actor 1002 is to beauthenticated and authorized to access the content approval module 2210.

TABLE 17 Content Approval Flow STEP ACTION 2502 Request list ofunapproved content 2504 Get session information 2506 Get list ofunapproved content for that actor 2508 Display list of unapprovedcontent 2510 Select content to approve 2512 Approve content 2514 Makecontent available to be added to schedule records

At step 2502, the actor 1002 may request a list of unapproved contentfrom the service provider content manager user interface 2102. At step2504, the service provider content manager user interface 2102 requestssession information from the service provider session manager module1102. Additionally, the service provider content manager user interface2102 requests a list of unapproved content for that actor from theservice provider content manager module 2303 at step 2506. The serviceprovider content manager user interface 2102 displays the list ofunapproved content for the actor 1002 at step 2508, whereby the actor1002 may select content to approve at step 2510. In step 2512, theservice provider manager user interface 2102 may approve the content asselected by the actor 1002 and notify the service provider contentmanager module 2303 thereof. The service provider content manager module2303 may make the content available to be added to scheduled records atstep 2514.

As understood in the art, other content functionality may be provided tothe subscriber 204 and 206 and service provider 202 including contentsearch and permission change as understood in the art. Additionally,directory creation, directory authority delegation, directorypermissions application, child directory move, and directory deletionmay be provided for the subscriber 204 and 206 and service provider 202.

A playlist approver is a role that is assigned to one or more users persubscriber 204 and 206. The playlist approver role enables a user toapprove and submit a scheduled record (SR). In addition, the playlistapprover role provides the user the same privileges as the playlistcreator role. A user is able to add, modify, view, and delete scheduledrecords. In addition, playlist approvers may have the authority tooverride any schedule conflicts presented by the system at the scheduledrecord during the schedule record submission process.

FIG. 26 is an exemplary block diagram 2600 of the playlist managementpackage 722 and associated modules of FIG. 7A. The playlist managementpackage 722 provides for management of scheduled records utilized forplaying content on visual appliances 308 at the facilities 208 of thesubscribers 204 and 206. The playlist management 722 includes ascheduled record creation module 2602, scheduled record submission forapproval module 2604, scheduled record approval module 2606, scheduledrecord search module 2608, scheduled record modification module 2612,and scheduled record deletion module 2614.

FIG. 27 is an exemplary sequence diagram 2700 for illustrating creatingand saving a scheduled record utilizing the service provider server 702of FIG. 7A. The step numbers and associated actions are provided inTABLE 18 below. A service provider playlist user interface module 2702,and service provider playlist manager module 2704 are utilized inconjunction with other modules for the scheduled record creationprocess. At step 2706, the actor 1002 creates a scheduled record requestwith the service provider playlist user interface 2702. The serviceprovider playlist user interface 2702 requests session information fromthe service provider session manager module 1102 at step 2708. Theservice provider playlist user interface 2702 further requests a list offacilities 208 for the subscriber 204 at step 2710 from the serviceprovider facility manager module 1104. At step 2712, the serviceprovider playlist user interface 2702 lists the facilities for the actor1002. At this point, the actor 1002 has the facility IDs within thedomain of the subscriber 204 for the selection.

TABLE 18 Creating Scheduled Record Flow STEP ACTION 2706 Createscheduled record request 2708 Get session information 2710 Getfacilities for subscriber 2712 List of facilities 2714 Select facility2716 Get visual appliance list for facility for that subscriber 2718 Getall valid content for subscriber 2720 Scheduled record form 2722Scheduled record 2724 Syntax check 2726 Scheduled record save 2728Validation Check 2730 Scheduled Record Saved

At step 2714, the actor 1002 selects a facility ID or group offacilities ID. The service provider playlist user interface 2702requests a visual appliance list for the selected facility 208 for thesubscriber 204 from the service provider facility manager module 1104 atstep 2716. At step 2718, the service provider playlist user interface2702 requests valid content for the subscriber 204 from the serviceprovider content manager module 2303. At step 2720, the service providerplaylist user interface 2702 presents a scheduled record form to theactor 1002, where the schedule record form may include a facility ID,visual appliance list, and multi-media file list, for example.

At step 2722, the actor 1002 may select a facility ID, visual applianceID, content ID, and start and stop times for the content to be displayedon the visual appliance 308. It should be understood that other and/oralternative identifiers and parameters may additionally be selectedaccordingly. At step 2724, the service provider playlist user interface2702 performs a syntax check on the scheduled record, which is saved atstep 2726 by the service provider playlist manager module 2704. Theservice provider playlist manager module 2704 further performs avalidation check at step 2728. A notice of the scheduled record beingsaved is provided to the actor 1002 at step 2730. It should beunderstood that the scheduled record may further be modified and deletedas understood in the art.

FIG. 28 is an exemplary sequence diagram 2800 illustrating submission ofa scheduled record for approval on the service provider server 702 ofFIG. 7A. The step numbers and associated actions are provided in TABLE19 below. The actor 1002 may be a user from the subscriber 204 or 206and/or playlist administrator of the service provider 202. The actor1002 is to be authenticated and authorized to access the scheduledrecord submission for approval module 2604. At step 2802, the actor 1002requests unsubmitted scheduled records from the service providerplaylist user interface 2702, which, in turn, requests sessioninformation from the service provider session manager module 1102 atstep 2804. At step 2806, the service provider playlist user interface2702 requests unsubmitted scheduled records for that actor 1002 from theservice provider playlist manager module 2704. The unsubmitted scheduledrecords are provided to the actor 1002 at step 2808.

TABLE 19 Submission of Scheduled Record for Approval Flow STEP ACTION2802 Request unsubmitted scheduled records 2804 Get Session Information2806 Request unsubmitted scheduled records for that actor 2808 Returnunsubmitted scheduled records 2810 Submit scheduled record(s) forapproval 2812 Scheduled record is available for approval 2814 Get listof approvers for subscriber 2816 Notify approvers 2818 Notify user ofsuccessful submission

At step 2810, the actor submits scheduled record(s) for approval to theservice provider playlist user interface 2702. Notice to the serviceprovider playlist manager module 2704 indicating that scheduledrecord(s) are available for approval at step 2812. At step 2814, a listof approvers for the subscriber are requested by the service providerplaylist user interface 2702 from the service provider account managermodule 1006. At step 2816, the service provider playlist user interface2702 notifies approvers that scheduled record(s) are available forapproval via the service provider notification manager module 2402. Innotifying the approvers, the system may utilize e-mail or othercommunication means about the new scheduled record(s) awaiting approval.At step 2818, the actor is notified of successful submission of thesubmitted scheduled record(s). It should be noted that a scheduledrecord may not be submitted for approval unless the following attributeshave valid values: file ID, facility name, visual appliance name,location name, content name, scheduled start time, scheduled end time orrelevant information, including verification of display of the content.The system tags the submitted scheduled records as “submitted” forrecord keeping purposes.

FIG. 29 is an exemplary sequence diagram 2900 illustrating submission ofscheduled records for content distribution by the service providerserver 702 of FIG. 7A. The step numbers and associated actions areprovided in TABLE 20 below. The actor 1002 may be a playlist approverfrom either the subscriber 204 or service provider 202. The actor 1002is to be authenticated and authorized to access the scheduled recordsubmission module 2604. A service provider content distribution managermodule 2902 is utilized in providing for the scheduled record approvalfunctionality.

TABLE 20 Submission of Scheduled Records for Distribution Flow STEPACTION 2904 Request list of unapproved scheduled records 2906 Getsession information 2908 Get list of unapproved scheduled records forthat actor 2910 Display list of unapproved scheduled records 2912 Selectscheduled records to approve 2914 Submit approved scheduled records 2918Submit scheduled records for content distribution

At step 2904, the actor 1002 requests a list of unapproved scheduledrecord(s) to the service provider playlist user interface 2702, which,in turn, requests session information from the service provider sessionmanager module 1102. At step 2908, the service provider playlist userinterface 2702 requests a list of unapproved service requests for theactor 1002 from the service provider playlist manager module 2704. Thelist of unapproved scheduled record(s) is displayed for the actor 1002at step 2910.

At step 2912, the actor 1002 selects scheduled record(s) to approve. Theservice provider playlist user interface 2702 submits the selectedapproved scheduled record(s) to the service provider playlist managermodule 2704 at step 2914. At step 2916, the system validates that noschedule conflict exists between scheduled records submitted fordistribution as well as between submitted scheduled records andscheduled records currently on the local server 304. Upon successfulvalidation of conflicts, the system sends the selected scheduledrecord(s) to the service provider content distribution manager module2902 at step 2918. If, however, during the schedule conflict resolution,the system detects a conflict, conflict is reported to the actor 1002.The actor 1002 may submit the scheduled record(s) in spite of theconflict. In the case of conflicting scheduled records, the systemoverwrites the existing scheduled record with the new scheduled record.Once the scheduled records are submitted, a scheduled record search maybe performed by the subscriber 204 or service provider 202 as understoodin the art.

FIG. 30 is an exemplary block diagram 3000 providing for contentdistribution by the communications network service provider 216 of FIG.2. The content distribution management package 724 includes monitoringthe scheduled records to determine when to transmit the scheduledrecords to the appropriate local servers 304. Additionally, the contentdistribution packets determine additional content to be transmitted tothe appropriate local servers 304. Further, the content distributionmanagement package 724 is responsible for determining the scheduledrecords ready to be transmitted to the local servers 304 and theparticular local server(s) 304 for transmission. Bandwidth usage isoptimized by the content distribution management package 724 bydetermining scheduled records containing the same content andmulticasting the content to multiple locations. After determining thecontent to be transmitted to the different local server 304, the contentdistribution management package 724 creates satellite packagesmulticasting the content and associated meta data to the local servers304 at remote facilities 208 by a package delivery service from thecommunications network service provider 216.

The content distribution management package 724 is responsible forsubstantially guaranteeing delivery of the satellite package to thelocal server(s) 304. To substantially guarantee the delivery of thesatellite packages, the content distribution management package 724multicast/unicast(s) the satellite package(s) to the local server(s) 304and receive confirmations of successful delivery therefrom.Pre-transmission of the complete or partial satellite packages may alsobe performed as understood in the art. As shown in FIG. 30, the contentdistribution management package 724 includes a create satellite packagemodule 3002 and transmit satellite package module 3004.

FIG. 31 is an exemplary sequence diagram 3100 illustrating the creationof a satellite package for multicast/unicast to local server(s) 304 ofFIG. 3A. The step numbers and associated actions are provided in TABLE21 below. Rather than having a human actor, the service provider contentdistribution manager module 2902 operates as the initiator of thecreation of the satellite package. The service provider contentdistribution manager module 2902 initiates the sequence once it hasscheduled record(s) that are to be relayed or communicated to the localserver 304. As shown, the sequence utilizes a service provider satellitepackage creator module 3102, service provider local information managermodule 3104, and service provider package delivery sender module 3106.

TABLE 21 Creation of Satellite Package Flow STEP ACTION 3108 Selectscheduled records to be sent 3110 Select other scheduled records havingthe same content 3112 Send scheduled records 3114 Get package deliverysite IDs for each visual appliance ID in scheduled record (s) 3116Create satellite package consisting of scheduled records and site IDs3118 Create satellite package consisting of content and site IDs 3120Send satellite package(s) 3122 Receive package delivery confirmation3124 Notify of successful transmission 3126 Notify of successfultransmission

In operation, the service provider content distribution manager module2902 selects scheduled records to be sent at step 3108. In selecting thescheduled records to be sent, the service provider content distributionmanager module 2902 determines which scheduled records to submit fordelivery based on the time that the content is scheduled to play. Thetime interval for delivery prior to playtime may be configurable (e.g.,2 days, 5 days, or 1 week) for priority delivery purposes. At step 3110,the service provider content distribution manager module 2902 may selectother scheduled records having the same content as previously selected,but not yet eligible for delivery, so as to maximize distribution of asingle content via a broadcast/multicast. In step 3112, the serviceprovider content distribution manager module 2902 sends the scheduledrecords to the service provider satellite package creator module 3102.

The service provider satellite package creator module 3102 requestspackage delivery site IDs for each visual appliance ID in the scheduledrecord(s) from the service provider local information manager module3104 at step 3114. The service provider satellite package creator module3102 may create multiple satellite packages. A first satellite packageis created at step 3116 and includes scheduled records and site IDs. Asecond satellite package is created at step 3118 and includes contentand site IDs. The packages having content may have the followingattributes for each file: file name, size, resolution, aspect ratio,creation date, last modified date, expiration date, subscriber ID,subscription ID, verification parameters, and status. The serviceprovider satellite package creator module 3102 sends the satellitepackage(s) to the service provider package delivery sender module 3106at step 3120. In response, the service provider package delivery sendermodule 3106 communicates a package delivery confirmation receipt back tothe service provider satellite package creator module 3102 at step 3122.The service provider satellite package creator module 3102 notifies theservice provider local information manager module 3104 of a successfultransmission at step 3124 and the service provider playlist managermodule 2704 of the successful transmission at step 3126. The serviceprovider playlist manager module 2704 may mark the status of thescheduled records as “sent”.

FIG. 32 is a more basic exemplary sequence diagram 3200 of the sequencediagram 3100 of FIG. 31 that illustrates the multicasting/unicasting ofthe satellite package(s) to the local server(s) 304. The step numbersand associated actions are provided in TABLE 22 below. In operation, theservice provider server 702, via the service provider package deliverysender module 3106, receives a valid satellite package along with a listof valid site ID(s) to where the package is to be sent, and, based onthis information, the service provider package delivery sender module3106 multicasts/unicasts the satellite package to the specified localserver(s) 304. More specifically, the service provider server 702 sendsthe satellite package along with site ID(s) to the service providerpackage delivery sender module 3106 at step 3202 and the satellitepackage is multicast/unicast to the local server 304 at step 3204. Atstep 3206, the local server 304 sends a confirmation of a successfulreceipt of the satellite package to the service provider server 702.

TABLE 22 Distribution of Satellite Package Flow STEP ACTION 3202 Sendsatellite package along with site ID(s) 3204 Multicast/unicast satellitepackage 3206 Confirmation of successful receipt of satellite package

FIG. 33 is an exemplary block diagram 3300 of the asset managementpackage 726 for managing the physical assets of FIG. 3A. Assets aredefined as the infrastructure components of the system, includingservers, such as the service provider server 702 and local server 304,satellite dishes 302, visual appliances 308, wireless access point 602,etc. Asset management involves maintaining a knowledge base of theinventory. In one embodiment, the asset management maintains the entireinventory in a single location via the communications system 200. Theasset management package 726 provides a mechanism to perform assetmanagement from the service provider server 702. The asset managementpackage 726 includes an asset addition module 3302, asset modificationmodule 3304, asset search module 3306, and asset deletion module 3308.

FIG. 34 is an exemplary sequence diagram 3400 illustrating the assetaddition process provided by the asset addition module 3302 of FIG. 33.The step numbers and associated actions are provided in TABLE 23 below.The actor 1002 may be the asset administrator of the service provider202 who has been authenticated and authorized to access the assetaddition functionality. The asset administrators may utilize the assetaddition functionality to add assets of the service provider 202,including local server 304, visual appliances 308, satellite dishes 302,receivers 303, and access points 314. A service provider asset userinterface module 3402 and service provider asset manager module 3404modules are utilized in the asset additions process.

TABLE 23 Asset Addition Flow STEP ACTION 3406 Request for adding anasset 3408 Get session information 3410 Asset form 3412 Enter assetdetailed information, ID and attribute 3414 Syntax check 3416 New assetinformation create 3418 New asset information added

In operation, the actor 1002 requests to add assets via the serviceprovider asset user interface 3402 at step 3406. At step 3408, theservice provider asset user interface 3402 requests session informationfrom the service provider session manager module 1102. At step 3410, theservice provider asset user interface 3402 provides the actor 1002 withan asset form, which includes fields, such as serial ID, physicallocation, type, make, owner, and status for each asset.

At step 3412, the actor 1002 enters asset detailed information asprovided by the fields on the asset form. At step 3414, the serviceprovider asset user interface 3402 performs a syntax check on the assetinformation and new asset information is created in response to theservice provider asset manager module 3404 receiving a communicationfrom the service provider asset user interface 3402. New assetinformation is created at step 3416. At step 3418, the service providerasset user interface 3402 notifies the actor 1002 that the new assetinformation has been added to the system for future utilization. Itshould be understood that asset modification, asset deletion, and assetsearching may be performed as understood in the art.

FIG. 35 provides the system operations package 748 for the serviceprovider 202 to provide the service operations and maintenance for theassets of the communications system 200 of FIG. 2. As shown, thefunctionality of the system operations package 748 includes performingoperations for the local servers 304 and visual appliances 308. Thefunctionality for the local servers 304 include local server operatingstatus change 3502, local server encryption key change 3504, localserver status check 3506, local server performance and configurationcheck 3508, local server software upgrade 3510, local server systemparameter change 3512, local server storage system check 3514, and localserver content deletion 3516. The visual appliance functionalityincludes visual appliance operating status change 3518, visual applianceencryption key change 3520, visual appliance status check 3522, visualappliance performance and configuration check 3524, visual appliancedefault image replacement 3526, upgrade visual appliance software 3528,local server visual appliance schedule request 3530, and visualappliance list retrieval 3532. In addition, the system operationspackage 748 includes functionality for retrieval of system information,including alerts retrieval 3534 and logs retrieval 3536. In general, thefunctionality provided by the system operations package 748 includesstatus checks, updating configuration parameters, and upgradingsoftware. The functionality of the modules are as understood in the art.However, certain operations are described hereinafter in accordance withthe principles of the present invention so as to provide for thoseaspects of the communications system 200 that enable the serviceprovider 202 the ability to provide for a system features in accordancewith the principles of the present invention.

FIG. 36 is an exemplary sequence diagram 3600 that illustratesretrieving alert history via the communications system 200 of FIG. 2.The step numbers and associated actions are provided in TABLE 24 below.The actor 1002 in this case is a system operator of the service provider202 who has been authenticated and authorized to retrieve logs from thelocal servers 304. As shown, a service provider system operation userinterface module 3602 and service provider system operation managermodule 3604 are utilized in providing the alert retrieval functionality.It should be understood that the alert retrieval functionality is apost-processing function to look-up alerts that have occurred in thepast and that current alerts are, in general, automatically propagatedfrom the device (e.g., local server 304 and visual appliance 308) to theservice provider server 702. The service provider server 702, inresponse, may communicate message(s) to the facility 208 or an operatorat the service provider 202 to take corrective actions to address thealert.

TABLE 24 Alert Retrieval Flow STEP ACTION 3606 Request retrieve alertform for a given local server 3608 Display retrieve alert form 3610Submit form with search parameters 3612 Submit retrieve alert form 3614Retrieve alerts based on submitted parameters 3616 Send alerts 3618 Sendalerts 3620 Display alerts

At step 3606, the actor 1002 requests a retrieval alert form for aparticular local server 304 from the service provider system operationuser interface 3602. The requested retrieved alert form is displayed forthe actor 1002 at step 3608. The actor 1002 may search for alerts for agiven local server 304 based on visual appliance identifier (ID), date,and alert severity level, for example, at step 3610 by submitting theform with the search parameters to the service provider system operationuser interface 3602. At step 3612, the retrieved alert form iscommunicated to the system provider system operation manager module3604, which, in turn, requests alerts based on the submitted parametersfrom the service provider local information manager module 3104 at step3614. The alerts as searched are returned at step 3616 and 3618 anddisplayed to the actor 1002 at step 3620.

FIG. 37 is an exemplary sequence diagram illustrating the retrieval oflogs from the local server 304 of FIG. 3A. The step numbers andassociated actions are provided in TABLE 7 below. The process starts atstep 3702 by the actor 1002, who may be a system operator of the serviceprovider 202, requesting to retrieve logs for a given local server 304from the service provider system operator user interface 3602. At step3704, the service provider system operator user interface 3602 requeststhe logs from the local server 304 from the service provider systemoperation manager module 3604, which, in turn, requests to transmit logsfrom the local server 304 at step 3706. The local server 304, inresponse to the request to transmit the logs, transmits the logs to theservice provider system operation manager module 3604 at step 3708. Thelogs may be transmitted via a management channel on the communicationssystem 200. The logs of the local server 304 are forwarded to theservice provider system operator user interface 3602 at step 3710 anddisplayed for the actor 1002 at step 3712.

TABLE 25 Log Retrieval Flow STEP ACTION 3702 Request to retrieve logsfor a given local server 3704 Retrieve logs from the local server 3706Request to transmit logs 3708 Transmit logs 3710 Forward local serverlogs 3712 Display logs

FIG. 38 is an exemplary sequence diagram 3800 that illustrates thereplacement of a default image for a visual appliance 308 by asubscriber 204 of the service provider 202 of FIG. 2. The step numbersand associated actions are provided in TABLE 26 below. A default imagemay be any image, including still (e.g., logo) or motion (e.g., video),to prevent an electronic display 310 from having a blank screen. Thedefault image replacement process starts at step 3802, where a requestto download a default image form by the actor 1002 to the serviceprovider system operator user interface 3602 is performed. The defaultimage form is displayed for the actor 1002 at step 3804. At step 3806,the actor submits the default image form after entering a visualappliance ID and loads content (e.g., default image previouslyapproved). At step 3808, the submitted content to be downloaded to thevisual appliance 308 is sent to the service provider system operatormanager module 3604, which sends the content to be downloaded as adefault image for the visual appliance 308 to the service providercontent distribution module 2902 at step 3810. The content is thereaftercommunicated to the local server 304 at step 3812. The local server 304communicates the content to the visual appliance 308 to be loaded as thedefault image at step 3814. It should be understood that the defaultimage may be a fixed or dynamic image.

TABLE 26 Default Image Replacement Flow STEP ACTION 3802 Requestdownload default image form 3804 Display form 3806 Submit form 3808Submit content to be downloaded to the visual appliance 3810 Sendcontent to be downloaded as default Image for visual appliance 3812 Sendcontent for visual appliance 3814 Send content to loaded as the defaultimage 3816 Notify of successful default image load 3818 Notify ofsuccessful default image load 3820 Update default file information forvisual appliance 3822 Notify of successful default image load 3824Notify of successful default image load

In response to the visual appliance 308 receiving and loading thecontent as the default image, the visual appliance 308 notifies thelocal server 304 of a successful default image load at step 3816. Thenotification of the successful default image load is further updatedthroughout the system at steps 3818, 3820, 3822, and 3824, whichultimately notifies the actor 1002.

Local Server Software Packages and Processes

FIG. 39 is an exemplary block diagram 3900 providing for the packagesthat the local server management package 752 interfaces for operatingthe local server 304 of FIG. 3A. As shown, the local server managementpackage 752 interfaces with the local registration management package754, local server connection management package 756, local serverconfiguration management package 758, local server performancemanagement package 760, local server default management package 762, andvisual appliance registration management package 754. Modules 754-762are generally described with regard to FIG. 7B. The visual applianceregistration management package 754 is operable to register visualappliances 308 with the local server 304.

FIG. 40 is an exemplary sequence diagram 4000 illustrating registrationof the local server 304 of FIG. 7B to the service provider server 702 atthe time of provisioning. The step numbers and associated actions areprovided in TABLE 27 below. For registration, the local server 304 is tobe previously defined in the service provider server 702 through theprovisioning management package 718, locally configured, and ready forregistration with the service provider server 702. To provide for theregistration of the local server 304, a service provider configurationmanager module 4002 is utilized.

TABLE 27 Local Server Registration Flow STEP ACTION 4004 Registrationrequest 4006 Authentication request 4008 Authentication process 4010 Getnew encryption key 4012 Get initial configuration profile 4014Registration confirmation 4016 Registration notification 4018Registration notification 4020 Registration notification

At installation time, an operator installing the local server 304configures the local server 304 by loading software into the localserver 304 and entering system parameters into the system. Suchparameters may include the IP address of the service provider server702, the local server ID (LSID), the serial ID, subscription ID, and aninitial encrypting key.

Once the local configuration is successful, the operator or installer isto bring the local server 304 online to register with the serviceprovider server 702. At step 4004, the local server 304 requestsregistration from the service provider registration manager module 1906.The registration request communicates an information packet containingan encrypted local server ID, which may be decrypted and validated bythe service provider security manager module 1008 at steps 4006 and4008. Upon a successful validation, the service provider registrationmanager module 1906 requests a new encryption key from the serviceprovider security manager module 1008. An initial configuration profilemay be requested at step 4012 from the service provider configurationmanager module 4002, where the initial configuration profile may includesite ID for content distribution purposes and the visual appliance listfor visual appliance management purposes. Upon completion of theregistration, the service provider registration manager module 1906communicates a registration confirmation to the local server 304 at step4014. The registration confirmation may include registration profile,including the new encryption key for connection purposes and othersystem parameters. The service provider registration manager module 1906may additionally communicate a registration notification message to theservice provider provisioning manager module 1506 at step 4016, theservice provider facility manager module 1104 at step 4018, and theservice provider asset manager module 3404 at step 4020.

Local Server

The local server 304 is typically deployed at each facility 208 of thesubscriber 204. The local servers 304 have multiple functions andreceive satellite packages as provided for by the service providerserver 702. Additionally, the local server 304 validates the satellitepackages and extract the scheduled records and content. The extractedcontents are stored locally and the scheduled records are added to thevisual appliance scheduler being locally maintained. Also, the localserver 304 is responsible for transmitting the content to the visualappliances 308 and the facility 208 at the scheduled times.

Apart from receiving the satellite packages as provided by the serviceprovider server 702 and transmitting the content to the visualappliances 308, the local server 304 is responsible for commissioningthe visual appliances and collecting logs, alerts, and performancerelated data from the visual appliances 308. The local server 304 alsomonitors the visual appliances 308 in the facility 208 and notifies theservice provider server 702 in real-time of any high-priority alerts.

The local server 304 is responsible for its own maintenance. In thatregard, the local server 304 constantly monitors its local storagecapacity and deletes content if the usage reaches a certain threshold.The local server 304 may further be capable of deciding which visualappliance alerts to pass on to the service provider server 702 inreal-time and which ones to pass on periodically. In addition toperforming the various system management tasks, the local server 304also processes requests from the service provider server 702. Theoperators of the service provider 202 may send multiple types ofrequests from the service provider server 702 to the local server 304.The requests may request information, task performance, or collectedlogs. In general, however, the local server 304 is primarily tasked withtransmitting content to the visual appliances 308 and collecting logsand alerts therefrom.

FIG. 41 is an exemplary block diagram that depicts the local server 304of FIG. 7B and functionality provided thereby, including the satellitepackage receiver package 766, visual appliance registration managementpackage 754, visual appliance connection management package 756, visualappliance configuration management package 758, visual applianceperformance management package 760, visual appliance fault managementpackage 762, and content transmission package 4102. The functionality ofthe packages provides for substantially automatic operation via thelocal server 304 so that the scheduling of the content may be performedby a single operator of the subscriber 204 or service provider 202 byinterfacing with the service provider server 702, thereby minimizingefforts at the individual facilities 208.

FIG. 42 is an exemplary sequence diagram 4200 that illustrates receiptand post processing of satellite packages by the local server 304 ofFIG. 7B. The step numbers and associated actions are provided in TABLE28 below. The satellite package receipt verification process utilizes alocal server package delivery client module 4202, local server packageextractor module 4204, local server storage manager module 4206, andlocal server visual appliance scheduler module 4208. The process startsat 4210 as the service provider server 702 sends the satellite packageto the local server package delivery client module 4202, which verifiesthat the complete satellite package has been received at step 4212. Inthe case of the satellite package missing one or more segments, arequest for those missing segments is made to the service providerserver 702. Upon successfully receiving the satellite package, the localserver package delivery client module 4202 sends a receipt of asuccessful package delivery to the service provider server 702 at step4214.

TABLE 28 Satellite Package Receipt Flow STEP ACTION 4210 Send satellitepackage 4212 Verify that complete package has been received 4214 Sendreceipt of successful package delivery 4216 Send satellite package 4218Validate the package 4220 Send content along with descriptors 4222 Storecontent in respective directories 4224 Send scheduled records 4226 Addscheduled records to the visual appliance schedule

The satellite package further is sent to the local server packageextractor module 4204 at step 4216 and a validation of the package ismade at step 4218. The validation includes performing multiple tests,including verifying that content exists as specified in each schedulerecord, verifying that the content has been scheduled for visualappliance(s) 308 with the correct resolution, and verifying that filedescriptors exist for each content received. At step 4220, the localserver package extractor module 4204 sends a content along withdescriptions to the local server storage manager module 4206, whichstores the contents in respective directories at 4222. At step 4224, thelocal server package extractor module 4204 sends the scheduled recordsto the local server visual appliance scheduler module 4208, which addsthe scheduled records to the schedule of the visual appliance 308 atstep 4226. In the case of a conflicting schedule, the current scheduledrecord may override any other scheduled record existing in the schedule.

FIG. 43 is an exemplary sequence diagram 4300 that illustrates deliveryof content to the visual appliances 308 of FIG. 3A. The step numbers andassociated actions are provided in TABLE 29 below. For delivery of thecontent, the local server 304 utilizes an active visual applianceschedule list as produced by receiving content from the communicationsnetwork service provider 216 as directed by the service provider server702. The content transmission is responsible for transmitting thecontent to the visual appliances 308 in these facilities 208 of thesubscribers 204 and 206. The local server visual appliance schedulermodule 4208 is constantly executed on the local server 304 and, at theappropriate times, transmits content to the visual appliance(s) 308 asindicated in the stored schedule record(s). Before delivery of anycontent to a visual appliance 308, verification of the content beingappropriate for the visual appliance 308 is performed at step 4304. Theverification process may include checking the aspect ratio, size of thecontent, and expiration time and date against the specifications of thevisual appliance 308 that the content is to be displayed. After ensuringthe validity of the content, the local server visual appliance schedulermodule 4208 sends the content for multicast/unicast to the local servercontent distribution module 4302 at step 4306.

TABLE 29 Content Delivery Flow STEP ACTION 4304 Verify if contentappropriate for visual appliance 4306 Send content for multicast/unicast4308 Multicast/unicast content 4310 Send ‘start’ command

At step 4308, the local server content distribution module 4302communicates the content via a multicast/unicast technique to the visualappliances 308 as understood in the art. In one embodiment, thecommunication technique utilizes an 802.11 wireless protocol. The visualappliance 308 loads the content into memory for execution or displaythereby. In one embodiment, the local server visual appliance schedulermodule 4208 communicates a “start” command over a management channel tothe visual appliance(s) 308 to begin play of the content. Alternatively,the visual appliance(s) 308 may begin playing the content during or uponcompletion of receiving the content into memory. It should be understoodthat the visual appliance 308 generally operates as a dummy terminal inthat it responds to commands by the local server 304 for the display ofthe content.

FIG. 44 is an exemplary sequence diagram 4400 that depicts aregistration process for the visual appliances 308 with the local server304 of FIG. 3A. The step numbers and associated actions are provided inTABLE 30 below. Prior to the communication of content to the visualappliances, the visual appliances 308 are registered with the localserver 304 at the provisioning time. Also, prior to the visualappliances 308 being installed locally (i.e., via the local server 304),the visual appliances 308 are to be provisioned in the service providerserver 702 before the registration process. In performing theregistration process, a local server registration manager module 4402,local server security manager module 4404, and local serverconfiguration manager module 4406 are utilized.

TABLE 30 Visual Appliance Registration Flow STEP ACTION 4408Registration request 4410 Authentication request 4412 Authenticationprocess 4414 Get new encryption key 4416 Get initial configurationprofile 4418 Registration confirmation 4420 Visual applianceregistration complete

The registration process begins at step 4408 where a registrationrequest, which may contain an encrypted visual appliance ID, from thevisual appliance 308 is made to the local server registration managermodule 4402 operating within the local server 304. The operator orinstaller of the visual appliances 308 configures the visual appliance308 by entering the system parameters, such as the IP address of thelocal server 304, the visual appliance ID, and the initial encryptionkey. The visual appliance ID may be composed of three fields, includingsubscriber ID, facility ID, and serial machine ID. It should beunderstood that other or alternative ID fields may be utilized. At step4410, the local server registration manager module 4402 requestsauthentication from the local server security manager module 4404,which, in turn, performs an authentication process at step 4412. Onceauthenticated, the local server registration manager module 4402communicates a request for a new encryption key from the local serversecurity manager module 4404 at step 4414.

At step 4416, the local server registration manager module 4402 requestsan initial configuration profile from the local server configurationmanager module 4406. The local server registration manager module 4402communicates a registration confirmation to the visual appliance 308,where the associated registration profile includes a new secret key forconnection purposes and other system parameters. At step 4420, the localserver registration manager module 4402 communicates a message to theservice provider server 702 that the visual appliance registrationprocess is complete for that visual appliance 308.

FIG. 45 is an exemplary flow diagram 4500 for updating locationinformation of visual appliance 308 of FIG. 3A. The location updateprocess starts at step 4502. At step 4504, a request for a location format the visual appliance is received. The location form is displayed onthe visual appliances step 4506. The location form may be a graphicaluser interface displayed on the visual appliance 308, where thegraphical user interface includes entry fields for an operator to enterthe location or position information of the visual appliance 308.Because the visual appliance 308 may be small enough to apply directlyto a shelf containing products within a facility 208, the location formmay include information associated with a planogram of the facility 208.For example, in the case of the facility 208 being a grocery store, agraphical map, entry field, product list, or other representativefeature within the grocery store may be available to the operator forselecting or notifying the visual appliance 308 of the position thereof.

At step 4508, the new location information of the visual appliance 308is received and communicated from the visual appliance 308. In oneembodiment, the location information is communicated to the local server304 for updating a database containing location information of thevisual appliances 308. Alternatively, the location information may becommunicated via the satellite 218 to the service provider server 702directly from the visual appliance 308. It should be understood that thecommunication may be a passive communication, whereby the local server304 requests the updated information from the visual appliance 308rather than the visual appliance 308 actively notifying the local server304 in response to the update information being received. The locationupdating process ends at step 4512.

FIG. 46 is an exemplary sequence diagram 4600 that shows polling ofsummary information by the local server 304 from the visual appliance308 of FIG. 3A. The step numbers and associated actions are provided inTABLE 31 below. The summary information may be polled on a periodic oraperiodic basis from the local server 304. The polling may occur on anestablished management connection channel with the visual appliance 308and the local server 304. Two modules utilized for polling the summaryinformation include a local server performance manager module 4602 andlocal server log manager module 4604.

TABLE 31 Summary Information Polling Flow STEP ACTION 4606 Get summarystatistics 4608 Performance statistics 4610 Log the performanceinformation 4612 Send visual appliance performance summary statistics toservice provider server

The performance management polling process starts at step 4606 as thelocal server performance manager module 4602 requests summaryperformance statistics from the visual appliance 308. At step 4608, thevisual appliance 308 responds to the local server performance managermodule 4602 and communicates the summary performance statistics is tothe local server performance manager 4602. At step 4610, a log of thesummary performance statistics is communicated to the local server logmanager 4604 periodically or aperiodically and the visual appliancesummary performance statistics are sent periodically or aperiodically tothe service provider server 702 at step 4612. In general, theperformance management receives the aggregate statistics from the visualappliance 308 including CPU utilization, memory utilization, displayqualify measurement index, packet losses, content transfer loss rate,and other performance statistics.

Service Provider Software Classes

FIG. 47 is an exemplary class diagram for operating on the local server304 of FIG. 3A in accordance with the principles of the presentinvention. Interaction and interconnection between the classes areprovided. The classes for each module are provided in TABLES 32-50 asshown herein below. TABLE 32 shows classes utilized by the contentmanager module 2303 and provides content management functionalityranging from content creation to child directory creation for applyingpermissions to content.

TABLE 32 Content Manager Classes CONTENT MANAGER Is_Authorized( )Delete_by_Content_ID( ) Get_Content_ID_by_Attribute( )Set_Permission_on_Content( ) Get_Unapproved_Content( ) Approve_Content() Content_Creation( ) Content_Deletion( ) Set_Content_Description( )Modify_Content_Description( ) Create_Directory( ) Delete_Directory( )Get_Directory_Structure( ) Get_Patent_Directory( )Set_User_Directory_Access( ) Delete_User_Directory_Access( )Modify_User_Director_Access( ) Get_Content_Search_Parameter( )

TABLE 33 shows classes utilized by the playlist manager module 2704 thatprovides functionality to create, modify, delete, view, and approvescheduled records. The playlist manager module 2704 interfaces withother classes to provide its functionality, and provides interfaces toother classes.

TABLE 33 Playlist Manager Classes PLAYLIST MANAGERIs_Schedule_Record_Existing( ) Is_Content_In_Schedule( )Add_Scheduled_Record( ) Delete_Scheduled_Record( )Modify_Scheduled_Record_Attribute( ) Get_Unsubmitted_Scheduled_Record( )Get_Search_Parameter( )

TABLE 34 shows a class utilized by the content distribution managermodule 2902. Approved scheduled records are submitted to contentdistribution manager, which processes scheduled records according to thestart times specified in the scheduled records. After processing thescheduled records, the content distribution manager module 2902interacts with the package creator module 3102 to create the satellitepackage that is multicast to the facilities 208.

TABLE 34 Content Distribution Manager CONTENT DISTRIBUTION MANAGERSubmit_Scheduled_Record( )

TABLE 35 shows a class utilized by the package creator module 3102 toreceive scheduled records and content from the content distributionmanager module 2902, and create satellite packages with proper packageheaders and addressed to appropriate local servers 304.

TABLE 35 Package Creator Class PACKAGE CREATORTransmit_Scheduled_Record( )

TABLE 36 shows classes utilized by the account manager module 1006 toprovide functionality to create/modify/delete a subscriber account 802and a user account 804. The account manager module 1006 also maintainsthe repository of the subscriber specific domains.

TABLE 36 Account Manager Classes ACCOUNT MANAGER Get_Approver_List( )Change_Access_Control( ) Create_Directory( ) Modify_Account( )Create_Account( ) Delete_Account( ) Get_Account_Info( ) Create_Domain( )Modify_Domain( ) Delete_Domain( ) Get_Domain( ) Create_User( )Delete_User( ) Get_User_Role( ) Add_User_Role( ) Modify_User_Role( )Delete_User_Role( )

TABLE 37 shows classes utilized by the facility manager module 1104 tomaintain the facility repository for subscribers. The facility managermodule 1104 also provides interfaces for other classes to query thisrepository.

TABLE 37 Facility Manager Classes FACILITY MANAGER Get_Facility_List( )Get_LSID( ) Get_Unprovisioned_Facility( ) Create_Facility( )Modify_Facility_Attribute( ) Delete_Facility( ) Get_Facility_Attribute() Get_Search_Parameter( ) Create_VA( ) Delete_VA( ) Get_VA_List( )Get_VA_Attribute( ) Modify_VA_Attribute( ) Get_Unprovisioned_VA( )Get_Provisioned_VA( ) Update_Provision_Status( )

TABLE 38 shows classes utilized by the local information manager module3104 to provide functionality for information, including configuration,visual appliance schedule, storage space, list of files, etc., abouteach local server 304 maintained by this class at the service providerserver 402 to provide quick access to that information.

TABLE 38 Local Information Manager Classes LOCAL INFORMATION MANAGERUpdate_Facility_Status( ) Update_VA_Status( ) Update_LS_Status( )Update_Software_Version( ) Get_LS_Status( ) Get_VA_Status( )Get_Deleted_File_List( )

TABLE 39 shows a class utilized by the notification manager module 2402to notify applicable parties of an event occurring within the serviceprovider server 402 that are reviewed and/or approved.

TABLE 39 Notification Manager Class NOTIFICATION MANAGER Notification( )

TABLE 40 shows classes utilized by the system operator (sysop) managermodule 3604 that provide functionality used by the system operators toperform administrative tasks, such as upgrade software, query localserver or visual appliance, retrieve alerts, etc.

TABLE 40 SYSOP Manager Classes SYSOP MANAGER Request_Software_Version( )Update_Software_Version( ) Retrieve_Configuration_Profile( )Request_LS_Status( ) Change_Encryption_Key( ) Activate_VA( )Deactivate_VA( ) Activate_LS( ) Deactivate_LS( ) Retrieve_VA_Statistics() Get_VA_Status( ) Get_LS_Status( )

TABLE 41 shows classes utilized by the fault manager 4702 to collect theevents and alarms from the local server 304 and the visual appliances308. When the local server 304 or visual appliances 308 detects theabnormal or special conditions that change the operational state of thedevices, the alarm/event is reported to the service provider server 402.The fault management process allows the operations of the serviceprovider 202 to identify the fault location and can quickly take thecorrective action to fix or find a way to work around faults.

TABLE 41 Fault Manager Classes FAULT MANAGER Get_Alert_History() Alert()

TABLE 42 shows classes utilized by the log manager 4704 to maintain therepository of logs generated by events and provide interfaces to othercomponents to add logs and query the existing logs.

TABLE 42 Log Manager Classes LOG MANAGER Log_Alarm_Event( )Log_Performance_Statistics( ) Log_Security_Violation( ) Retrieve_Log( )

TABLE 43 shows a class utilized by the performance manager 4706 toprovide a mechanism to collect the performance statistics from the localserver 304 and visual appliances 308 and report to the system operatorfor the review. The statistics collected may include the operationalcharacteristics of the local server 304 being consolidated in anaggregation form.

TABLE 43 Performance Manager Class PERFORMANCE MANAGERInitiate_Collection( )

TABLE 44 shows classes utilized by the security manager module 1008 tomaintain the repository for security-related information for users,local servers 304, and visual appliances 308. The security managermodule 1008 further is responsible for generating encryption keys andmaintaining the relationship between users and security roles.Interfaces are also provided to other classes to query for securityrelated information.

TABLE 44 Security Manager Classes SECURITY MANAGER Get_Permission_List() Change_Permission( ) Remove_Permission( ) Set_Permission( )Create_Encryption_Key( ) Request_Authentication( )

TABLE 45 shows classes utilized by the configuration manager module 4002to properly configure the local server and the visual appliances 308during the registration time and during the connection state. Theconfiguration parameters include the local server wide system parametersand facility specific parameters.

TABLE 45 Configuration Manager Classes CONFIGURATION MANAGERGet_Software_Version( ) Get_Configuration_Profile( )Get_System_Parameter( ) Modify_System_Parameter( ) Initiate_Config( )

TABLE 46 shows classes utilized by the connection manager 4708 tocontrol the connection with the local server 304 by establishing amanagement channel to transport the management related information(command/response) to the local server 304 from the service providerserver 402 or vice versa. The connection manager 4708 is responsible forsending a keep alive message to the local server 304 to assure themanagement channel is continuously operational.

TABLE 46 Connection Manager Classes CONNECTION MANAGERConnection_Request( ) Connection_Release( )

TABLE 47 shows classes utilized by the role manager 1302 to maintain therepository of security roles and provide interfaces to create, view,delete, and modify roles. The role manager 1302 also is the repositoryof basic system functionality that creates roles and provides interfacesto other classes to query about existing roles.

TABLE 47 Role Manager Classes ROLE MANAGER Add_Role( ) Delete_Role( )Modify_Role( ) Associate_Role( )

TABLE 48 shows a class utilized by the registration manager module 1906for the service provider server 402 to validate the rights of a localserver 304 to operate within the communications system 200. When thelocal server 304 is provisioned at the facility 208, it registers withthe service provider server 402 by sending the encrypted local serverID. The service provider server 402 validates the local server ID toauthenticate the local server 304. At the end of the successfulregistration, the service provider server 402 assigns a uniqueencryption key to the local server 304.

TABLE 48 Registration Manager Class REGISTRATION MANAGERUpdate_Registration_Info( )

TABLE 49 shows classes utilized by the provisioning manager module 1506to maintain the repository of provisioning information for local servers304 and visual appliances 308.

TABLE 49 Provisioning Manager Classes PROVISIONING MANAGERCheck_Provisioning_Status( ) Update_Provisioning_Status( )Ready_Facility_Provisioning( ) Remove_Provisioning_by_Facility( )Get_Provisioning_Info( )

TABLE 50 shows classes utilized by the asset manager module 3404 tomaintain the repository of infrastructure assets (e.g., visualappliances 308) and provides interfaces to other classes toadd/modify/view/delete assets.

TABLE 50 Asset Manager Classes ASSET MANAGER Update_Registration_Status() Get_Unprovisioned_Asset( ) Add_New_Asset( ) Delete_Asset( )Get_Asset_Info( ) Modify_Asset_Info( )

Local Server Software Classes

FIG. 48 is an exemplary class diagram for the local server 304 operatingwithin the communications system 200 of FIG. 2 and for providing theprinciples of the present invention. The class diagram includesassociations between the modules and classes. The classes are furtherprovided in TABLES 51-67 as shown herein below.

TABLE 51 shows classes utilized by the local server registration managermodule 4402 for the local server to validate the rights of visualappliances 308 to operate within the domain of the local server 304 Whenvisual appliances 308 are provisioned at the local facility 208, thevisual appliances 308 register with the local server 304 by sending theencrypted visual appliance identifier. The local server 304 validatesthe visual appliance ID to authenticate the local server 304. Uponsuccessful registration, a new unique encryption key is assigned to eachof the visual appliances 308.

TABLE 51 Local Server Registration Manager Classes LS: REGISTRATIONMANAGER VA_Registration( ) LS_Registration_to_SP( )

TABLE 52 shows classes utilized by the local server security managermodule 4404 that are executed on every local server 304 and responsiblefor ensuring that that the communications with visual appliances 308 andthe service provider server 402 are secure. The classes also areresponsible for generating encryption keys.

TABLE 52 Local Server Security Manager Classes LS: SECURITY MANAGERCreate_Encryption_Key( ) Authenticate_Request( ) Replace_Encryption_Key()

TABLE 53 shows classes utilized by the local server visual appliancesession manager 4802 for initiation of the network connection betweenthe local server 304 and visual appliances 308.

TABLE 53 Local Server Visual Appliance Session Manager Classes LS:VISUAL APPLIANCE SESSION MANAGER VA_Session_Init( ) VA_Session_Release()

TABLE 54 shows classes utilized by the local server connection manager4804 to provide connection control of the visual appliances 308 to thelocal server 304. The purpose of providing connection control is toestablish a management channel to transport the management relatedinformation (command/response) to the local server 304 from the visualappliance 308 or vice versa. The connection manager 4804 is responsiblefor sending the “keep alive” message to the visual appliance 308 toassure the management channel is continuously operational.

TABLE 54 Local Server Connection Manager Classes LS: CONNECTION MANAGERVA_Connect( ) SP_Connect( ) VA_Disconnect( ) SP_Disconnect( )

TABLE 55 shows classes utilized by the local server device statusmanager 4812 for managing the operating status of the visual appliances308 in facility 208 of the local server 304. Interfaces are provided toother classes to query this repository.

TABLE 55 Local Server Device Status Manager Classes LS: DEVICE STATUSMANAGER VA_Status_Change( ) Get_VA_Status( ) Get_LS_Status( )

TABLE 56 shows classes utilized by the local server configurationmanager module 4406 to properly configure visual appliances 308 duringthe registration/connection time. The configuration parameters includethe visual appliance wide system parameters and facility specificparameters.

TABLE 56 Local Server Configuration Manager Classes LS: CONFIGURATIONMANAGER Configuration_Init( ) Get_Configuration_Profile( )Modify_Configuration_Parameter( )

TABLE 57 shows classes utilized by the local server performance manager4602 to collect the performance statistics from the visual appliances308 and report to the system operator for review. The statisticscollected may include the operational characteristics of the visualappliances 308 in an aggregated form.

TABLE 57 Local Server Performance Manager Classes LS: PERFORMANCEMANAGER VA_Performance_Collect( ) LS_Performance_Deliver( )Get_VA_Performance( ) Get_LS_Performance( )

TABLE 58 shows classes utilized by the local server log manager 4604 tomaintain the repository of logs generated by events. The log manager4604 is executed at the service provider server 402, except this classis executed on every local server 304 and is limited in functionality.Interfaces to other classes to add logs and query the existing logs alsoare provided.

TABLE 58 Local Server Log Manager Classes LS: LOG MANAGERLog_Alert_Event( ) Log_Performance_Statistics( ) Package_Receive_Error()

TABLE 59 shows classes utilized by the local server service providersession manager 4806 for initiation of the network connection with theservice provider server 402 and for the routing of network message toappropriate handlers, such as connection manager 4804, registrationmanager module 4402, etc., on the local server 304.

TABLE 59 Local Server Service Provider Session Manager Classes LS:SERVICE PROVIDER SESSION MANAGER SP_Session_Init( ) SP_Session_Release()

TABLE 60 shows classes utilized by the local server fault manager 4803to collect the event and alarms from the visual appliances 308. When thevisual appliance 308 detects the abnormal or special conditions thatchange the operational state of the devices, the alarm/event is reportedto the local server 304. The fault and alarm collection process allowsthe operators of the service provider 202 to identify the fault locationand to quickly take the corrective action to fix or find a way to workaround the faults.

TABLE 60 Local Server Fault Manager Classes LS: FAULT MANAGER VA_Fault() LS_Fault( ) Package_Receiving_Fault( ) Playlist_Conflict( )

TABLE 61 shows a class utilized by the local server system operationmodule 4810 for handling the system requests originating from theservice provider server 402, such as visual appliance status check,storage allocation, etc.

TABLE 61 Local Server System Operation Class LS: SYSTEM OPERATIONOperation_Proc( )

TABLE 62 shows classes utilized by the local server content manager 4812to maintain the local repository of content files and to provideinterfaces to other local server classes to interact with the contentrepository. The local server content manager 4812 is similar infunctionality to the content manager module 2303 being executed atservice provider server 402, except this content manager 4812 isexecuted on each local server 304 and is limited in functionality.

TABLE 62 Local Server Content Manager Classes LS: CONTENT MANAGERGet_Default_MMF( ) Get_MMF_Path( ) Remove_File( ) Lock_File( )Get_PlayList( )

TABLE 63 shows classes utilized by the local server storage managermodule 4206 to maintain the storage of the local servers 304. The localserver storage manager module 4206 determines when and which content todelete.

TABLE 63 Local Server Storage Manager Classes LS: STORAGE MANAGERFile_Saved( ) Storage_Operation( )

TABLE 64 shows a class utilized by the local server package receiver4814 to receive satellite packages transmitted or caused to betransmitted by the service provider 202, The package receiver 4814verifies that received packages are complete and error free and, if needbe, requests the service provider server 402 to retransmit segments ofthe package or the complete package.

TABLE 64 Local Server Package Receiver Class .LS: PACKAGE RECEIVERReceive_Package( )

TABLE 65 shows a class utilized by the local server package extractor4816 to accept a verified complete satellite package from the localserver package receiver module 4814 and extract the content andscheduled requests contained in the satellite package.

TABLE 65 Local Server Package Extractor Class LS: PACKAGE EXTRACTORExtract_Package( )

TABLE 66 shows a class utilized by the local server playlist schedulermodule 4208 to maintain a schedule of what file needs to be transmittedto which visual appliance 308 at what time within the facility 208.

TABLE 66 Local Server Playlist Scheduler Class LS: PLAYLIST SCHEDULERSend_PlayList( )

TABLE 67 shows a class utilized by the local server content distributionmanager 4302 to create packages, including files, and transmit thepackages to the visual appliances 308 in the same facility 208. Thecontent distribution manager 4302 of the local server 304 is similar infunctionality as the content distribution manager module 2902 of theservice provider server 402, except that it is executed on each localserver 304 and has limited capability.

TABLE 67 Local Server Content Distribution Manager Class LS: CONTENTDISTRIBUTION MANAGER Transmit_File( )

Content Display Verification

FIG. 49 is an exemplary block diagram of a local network 300 b fordisplaying and verifying that visual content and/or display parametersare displayed on a visual appliance 308 of FIG. 3A. As shown, the localnetwork 300 b includes the local server 304 and visual appliance 308.Accordingly, more or fewer components may be utilized to provide for theproper and timely display of the content.

The local server 304 includes a content display manager 4902, which mayinclude the packages described hereinbefore, that is operable to managethe content for display by the visual appliance 308. As understood inthe art, the local server 304 may interface and operate many electronicdisplay controllers 312 coupled to or integrated with electronicdisplays 310 located on the local network 300 b. The content displaymanager 4902 may include a storage unit 4904 operable to facility (i) acontent database 4906 a having the content facility therein, (ii) amanagement database 4606 b that maintains information utilized todistribute the content to the visual appliance 308 at specific times anddates, for example, (iii) a log database 4906 c operable to maintaininformation associated with the display of the content being fed-backfrom the visual appliance 308, and (iv) an expected operationalparameter database 4906 d for signature analysis usage. In managing thecontent, locally or remotely a user of the local server 304 may utilizeinput and control devices 4908 a and 4908 b coupled to the local server304. The input and control devices 4908 a and 4908 b may be a keyboardand computer mouse, respectively. Alternatively, other input and controldevices 4908 a and 4908 b, such as a stylus, operable to interact withthe content display manager 4902, may be utilized to generate and/orschedule the content for distribution and display. It should beunderstood that to maintain security control may be limited to controlat the service provider server 702.

The electronic display controller 312 is operable to receive informationfrom the local server 304 and drive the electronic display 310.Additionally, the electronic display controller 312 may be utilized tointeract with and/or control the electronic display 310 based oninformation or operational parameter(s) being fed-back by the electronicdisplay 310. Additional detail for an exemplary embodiment of theelectronic display controller 312 and electronic display 310 is shownfurther in accordance with FIGS. 50A-50C. In another embodiment (notshown), functionality of the local server 304 may be included into theelectronic display controller 312 to enable the electronic display 310to operate in a substantially standalone manner (i.e., where no localserver exists and without having to operate in a local network).

In operation, the local server 304 communicates a content signal 4910 ain the form of data packets 226 (FIG. 2) via communication path 307 a tothe visual electronic controller 312, which, in turn, communicates acontent signal 4910 b via communication path 307 b to the electronicdisplay 310. The content signals 4910 a and 4910 b (hereinafter 4910)may be identical or the content signal 4910 b may be a derivative of thecontent signal 4910 a. The content signal 4910 may be analog or digital.If the content signal 4910 is analog, then the electronic displaycontroller 312 may convert the content signal 4910 into a digital signalfor communication to the electronic display 310. Alternatively, theelectronic display controller 312 may directly or indirectly communicatethe content signal 4910 as an analog signal for direct display or foranalog-to-digital (A/D) conversion and display by the electronic display310. Additionally, the local server 304 communicates control signals4912 a via communication path 4914 a to the electronic displaycontroller 312, which, in turn, may communicate control signals 4912 b(hereinafter control signals 4912) via communication path 4914 to theelectronic display 310. The same or derivative control signals 4912 areceived by the electronic display controller 312 may be communicated tothe electronic display 310 as control signals 4912 b.

The control signals 4912 may be utilized to initiate display of thecontent signal 4910, alter operational parameters of the electronicdisplay 310, or perform some other control function of the electronicdisplay controller 312 or electronic display 310. The control signals4912 may be digital signals, however, analog control signalsalternatively may be utilized to control the electronic display 310. Astandard bus architecture and protocol may be utilized for communicatingthe control signals 4912. Alternatively, a non-standard or proprietarybus architecture and protocol may be utilized. If the content signal4910 is digital, then the content signal 4910 and control signals 4912may be communicated over a single communication path (e.g., bus) asunderstood in the art. The electronic display controller 312 processesor conveys the content signal 4910 and control signals 4912 for deliveryto the electronic display 310.

The electronic display 310, which may be of any display type, includingCRT, LCD, LED, organic LED, plasma, or any other electronic displaydevice, may receive the control signals 4912 and provide for operationaldata 4916 a to be fed-back from the electronic display 310 to theelectronic display controller 312 via communication path 4918 a and maybe analog or digital. The operational data 4816 a may include anyoperational information of the electronic display 310 that can bemeasured as understood in the art. Such operational data 4916 a mayinclude temperature, voltage, current, frame rate, refresh rate, etc.,according to the type of electronic display 310 being utilized andsensors operating within the electronic display 310. It should beunderstood that a variety of voltage and currents may be measured at theelectronic display 310. For example, a voltage level from the powersupply that sources the electronic display 310 may be measured.Alternatively, voltage or current levels being drawn by variouscomponents, such as a fluorescent light bulb of a liquid crystal displaydevice or LED of an LED display device, may be measured.

The electronic display controller 312 further may process and/orcommunicate the operational data 4916 a back to the local server 304 asoperational data 4916 b (collectively operational data 4916). The localserver 304 may apply the operational data 4916 of the electronic display310 to the log database 4906 c stored by the storage unit 4904.Additionally, data other than the operational data 4916 of theelectronic display 310 may be provided to the local server 304. Forexample, information regarding the communication of the content signal4910 from the electronic display controller 312 to the electronicdisplay 310 may be applied to the log database 4906 c. The communicationinformation may include the existence of date and/or time of thecommunication of the content signal 4910.

By feeding-back the operational data 4916 and data associated with thecommunication of the content signal 4910 to the local server 304 andultimately to the service provider server 702, verification levels 1 and2 may be achieved. In other words, by recording when the content iscommunicated to the electronic display 310 and recording the operationalparameter(s) of the electronic display 310 at the time of the display ofthat content, verification level 1 may be performed either automaticallyor manually by determining that (a) the content was delivered and (b)the electronic display 310 was operating properly during the display ofthe content. If the operational data 4916 has associated expectedoperational parameter data facility in the expected operationalparameter database 4906 d, then verification level 2 may be achieved bycomparing the operational parameter data fed-back with the expectedoperational parameter data.

FIGS. 50A, 50B, and 50C (FIG. 50) are more detailed block diagrams ofthe electronic display controller 312 and electronic display 310 of FIG.49. FIG. 50A illustrates the electronic display controller 312 coupledto a communication path or databus 307 a and 307 b, which may be analogor digital and operable to carry the content signal 4910. A network IPbus or communication path 4914 a, PCI bus 4918 b, and power bus 5004 arefurther coupled to the electronic display controller 312 and utilized tocommunicate general network, control information (e.g., control signals4912), and power, respectively, to the electronic display controller 312from the local server 304.

It should be understood that the content signal 4910 may be communicatedacross the PCI bus 4918 b rather than the databus 307. It should furtherbe understood that the content signal 4910 and control signals 4912 arenot dependent on the protocol or architecture of the associated buses.For example, rather than utilizing multiple buses 307, 4914 a, and 4918b, a single bus may be used to provide for communication of the contentsignal 4910 and control signals 4912. The electronic display controller312 may include a processor 5006 coupled to a memory 5008, and furthercoupled to a storage unit 5010 and a driver unit 5012. The driver unit5012 may include a display driver 5014 and input/output (I/O) drivermodule 5016. The processor 5006 is operable to execute software 5018 asdiscussed with regard to FIG. 7B.

As shown in FIG. 50B, the software 5018, which is executed by theprocessor 5006, may include a local content manager 5022 that managesthe visual content and other content information received by theelectronic display controller 312. Rules manager 5024 is operable toapply rules for making decisions as to management of the content,applying the verification code, monitoring operational parameters, andperforming other functional operations in accordance with the principlesof the present invention. It should be understood that the packagesdescribed for the software are general and that the specific packagesdiscussed with regard to FIGS. 7A and 7B provide additional detail.

Control function drivers 5026 may be software that operate hardware forcontrolling the electronic display 310. The control function drivers5026 may include multiple drivers for providing interfacing capabilitywith a variety of types and brands of electronic displays 310 producedby different manufactures of electronic displays 310. For example, aplasma-type electronic display 310 utilizes different control functiondrivers 5026 than does an LCD-type electronic display 310. And,different manufacturers of the same type of electronic display 310 mayutilize different control protocols or commands and therefore requiredifferent control function drivers 5026.

The control function drivers 5026 may include various levels of controlcapability for the electronic display 310. For example, a low costelectronic display controller 312 may not include various automaticadjustment type drivers, such as intensity or volume, while a moreexpensive electronic display controller 312 may include intensity andvolume control function drivers 5026. Additionally, depending upon theverification level being utilized, other control function drivers 5026may be included. For example, while a verification level 1 system maysimply measure the existence of a particular operational parametercommunicated via the operational data 4916, a verification level 2system may utilize a control function driver 5026 that alters theoperational parameters being fed-back by the electronic display 310 bycomparing the operational data 4916 with certain expected operationalparameters of the electronic display 310 as a result of displaying aparticular content signal 4910 or test signal.

A limit table manager 5028 may be utilized to determine that certainresponses of the operational parameters result from displaying a contentsignal 4910 on the electronic display 310, thereby providing forverification levels 2 and 4. For example, the limit table manager 5028may interact with the expected operational parameter database 4906 dstored in the storage unit 4904 of the local server 304 or acorresponding expected operational parameter database 4906 d stored inthe storage unit 4904 of the electronic display controller 312 forperforming signature analysis based on expected operational parameterfeedback. Test or signature patterns may be stored and inserted into thecontent signal 4910 to perform signature analysis.

Further included in the software 5018 of the electronic displaycontroller 312 are measurement functions 5030 as understood in the art.The measurement functions 5030 operate to receive the operational data4916 and determine values associated therewith. For example, operationaldata 4916 representative of voltage levels (e.g., power supply orindividual component usage) used by the electronic display 310 may besensed by sensors in the electronic display 310 and measured by themeasurement functions 5030. Alternatively, the measurement function maybe performed by the electronic display 310. The measurement functions5030 may also interact with the limit table manager 5028 in performingthe signature analysis by comparing expected operational parameters withthe actual measured operational parameters as provided by theoperational data 4916.

A log generator 5032 may be utilized to form a log event in the logdatabase 5020 b each time the electronic display controller 312communicates the content signal 4910 to the electronic display 310and/or each time the content signal 4910 is displayed on the electronicdisplay 310. The log generator 5032 may receive information via the PCIbus 4918 a or as part of the content signal 4910 or control signals 4912that includes identification data associated with the content signal4910. By having the log generator 5032 form a log event, verificationlevels 1 and 2 of the content signal 4910 being displayed is enabled.However, it should be understood that the log generator 5032 may beexecuted by the local server 304, whereby when the local server 304communicates the content signal 4910 to the electronic displaycontroller 312, a log of the communication may be facility in the logdatabase 4906 c.

As shown in FIG. 50C, the driver unit 5012 may include a number ofcomponents including a clock 5034, test pattern or character generator5036, network local area network (LAN) driver 5038, local bus/displaydriver 5040, PCI bus interface 5042, signal measurements unit 5044, anddisplay driver 5014. It should be understood, however, that thefunctions of the driver unit 5012 may additionally and/or alternativelybe executed by the processor 5006. The clock 5034 may be utilized tomaintain proper synchronization between the electronic displaycontroller 312 and the electronic display 310. The test pattern orcharacter generator 5036 may be utilized to generate a test pattern toallow the electronic display controller 312 to measure operationalparameter(s) having an expected operational parameter feedback, therebyproviding for test and calibration capabilities.

The network LAN driver 5038 may be utilized in performing communicationsbetween the electronic display controller 312 and the electronic display310. The network LAN driver 5038 may also be utilized in communicatingwith other remotely located devices as understood in the art. The localbus/display driver 5040 may additionally provide local communicationwith the electronic display 310 or other remotely located devices. ThePCI bus interface 5042 may be utilized to interface with the processor5006 and the local server 304 via the PCI bus 4918 b as understood inthe art.

A signal measurements unit 5044 may be capable of interfacing withanalog and/or digital signals from the electronic display 310.Accordingly, the signal measurements unit 5044 may include A/Dconverters (not shown) for sampling analog signals, if the signalsreceived from the electronic display 310 are analog. The signalmeasurements unit 5044 may also include a processor (not shown) or otherelectronic device operable to perform measurements of the operationaldata 4916. It should be understood that the measurement functions 5030and the signal measurements unit 5044 may be combined or operated inconjunction with one another such that the operational data 4916 ismeasured or received in accordance with the types of operationalparameters being fed-back by the electronic display 310 via PCI bus 4918a.

The electronic display 310 includes a processor 5046 coupled to memory5048 and video driver 5050, which is coupled to and operable to drive anelectronic display unit 5052. It should be understood that, depending onthe type of electronic display 310, other hardware components may beincluded or excluded from the electronic display 310 as understood inthe art. For example, a CRT-type electronic display 310 would include apicture tube for displaying the content signal 4910 and an LCD-typeelectronic display 310 would include LCD drivers and, typically, aflorescent light source.

The processor 5046 further may be coupled to conventional sensor(s) 5054that may be utilized to measure operational parameters of the electronicdisplay 310. For example, the sensors 5054 may sense voltage, current,scan rate, etc. The information sensed by the sensor(s) 5054 may bereceived directly by the processor 5046 or, in the case of measuringanalog signals, be sampled by D/A converters (not shown) located in theelectronic display 310 or electronic display controller 312. Theprocessor executes software 5056 that is used to interface with thevideo driver 5050 in order to display the content signal 4910 by theelectronic display unit 5052. The software 5056 may also be utilized toform log data in the memory 5048 for communication to the electronicdisplay controller 312.

Other functionality may be performed by the software 5056. For example,the software 5056 may be utilized to interface with a wirelesscommunication device or interface to receive the content signal 4910 andcontrol signals 4912 and communicate the operational data 4916 back tothe electronic display controller 312. It should be understood that theelectronic display 310 may alternatively be a slave device and be fullyoperated and controlled by the electronic display controller 312.

FIG. 51A is an exemplary flow diagram 5100 a providing verificationlevel 1 of the visual content being displayed on the visual appliance308 of FIG. 3C. The verification level 1 process starts at step 5102. Atstep 5104, the content signal 4910, which may be analog or digital, iscommunicated via a wired or wireless communication channel to the visualappliance 308. In one embodiment, wireless ethernet using the 802.11bstandard may be utilized. Alternatively, satellite wirelesscommunication may be utilized either indirectly or directly to thevisual appliance 308. Depending upon the configuration of the system,the fact that the content signal 4910 is provided to the visualappliance 308 from the local server 304 may be sufficient to considerthat the content is displayed on the visual appliance 308.Alternatively, a communication from the electronic display controller312 to the electronic display 310 may be utilized in verifying that thecontent is displayed on the visual appliance 308.

At step 5106, a first indicator of the occurrence of the communicationof the content signal 4910 is recorded. The first indicator may beestablished in response to the content signal 4910 being communicatedfrom the local server 304 to the electronic display controller 312 orfrom the electronic display controller 312 to the electronic display 310depending on the system configuration. In one embodiment, the firstindicator includes a date and time. Other indicators may alternativelybe recorded, including a flag indicative of the content signal 4910being communicated.

At step 5108, the content is displayed on the electronic display 310 viathe content signal 4910. At least one operational parameter of thevisual appliance 308 is sensed at step 5110. The operationalparameter(s) may be any operational parameter that is available to besensed by a conventional or custom designed sensor 5054 for theelectronic display 310. At step 5112, a second indicator indicative ofthe sensed operational parameter(s) is recorded. The second indicatormay be a measured value or an indicator that is indicative of the factthat the operational parameter(s) are operating in a normal range. Forexample, the voltage operational parameter of the electronic display 310may be verified to have been operating at 120±5 volts. By associating orcombining the knowledge that the first and second indicators are valid,verification level 1 may be satisfied for the operator of the visualappliance 308 and/or the provider of the visual content. Theverification level 1 process ends at step A.

FIG. 51B is an exemplary flow diagram 5100 b of a verification level 2process. The verification level 2 process starts at step A, whichextends from the verification level 1 process of FIG. 51A. At step 5114,a value indicative of the sensed operational parameter is determined. Inother words, a measurement of the sensed operational parameter producesa measured value corresponding thereto. Verification level 2 mayadditionally measure the time-varying operational parameter at multipletimes for determination purposes. At step 5116, a determination is madeif the measured value is inside an expected measured value range. Atstep 5118, a notification identifier indicative of the measured valuebeing inside or outside the expected measured value range is formed. Ifthe measured value is inside the expected measured value range, then thenotification identifier may be set to a value of “1” or logical TRUE. Ifthe measured value is outside the expected measured value range, thenotification identifier may be a “0” or logical FALSE. At step 5120, anotification based on the notification identifier is communicated. Inone embodiment, the notification may be communicated from the electronicdisplay 310 to the electronic display controller 312. Alternatively, thenotification may be communicated from the electronic display controller312 to the local server 304. The process ends at step 5122. It should beunderstood that each of the indicators and identifiers may be stored inthe log database 4906 c of the local server 304.

TABLE 68 is an exemplary log table containing logs for verificationlevels 1 and 2. As shown, a number of different data elements indicativeof the delivery of the content signal 4910 and measurement ofoperational parameters are stored. Examples of such data elements aredelivery/playtime of the content signal 4910, content identifier,content name, operational parameters, and verification identifier. Thedelivery/playtime may include a date and time that the content signal4910 is delivered from the local server 304 to the electronic displaycontroller 312 or from the electronic display controller 312 to theelectronic display 310. Since the delivery of the content signal 4910may only be performed once and then the display of the content signal4910 be repeated continuously at the visual appliance 308, playtime mayalso be logged. It should also be understood that subscriber ID, visualappliance ID, and other relevant information associated with contentverification may be stored.

TABLE 68 LOG DATABASE DELIVERY/PLAYTIME CONTENT CONTENT OPERATIONALPARAMETERS VERIFICATION DATE TIME IDENTIFIER NAME TEMP VOLTS CURRENTLIGHT REFRESH IDENTIFIER Jun. 14, 2002 2:45 p.m. 50286-03471 RunningShoe 96 120 .5 — — L1-PASS Jun. 14, 2002 2:48 p.m. 50286-03471 RunningShoe 98 122 .58 — L1-PASS Jun. 14, 2002 2:51 p.m. 50286-03471 RunningShoe 110 32 .01 — — L1-FAIL . . . Jun. 21, 2002 8:30 a.m. 28400-07056Snacks-Chips 95 120 .5 1.4 60 L2-PASS Jun. 21, 2002 8:35 a.m.28400-07056 Snacks-Chips 95 120 .52 1.4 60 L2-PASS Jun. 21, 2002 8:40a.m. 28400-07056 Snacks-Chips 95 120 .52 1.4 60 L2-PASS Jun. 21, 20028:45 a.m. 28400-07056 Snacks-Chips 95 120 .51 1.32 60 L2-PASS Jun. 21,2002 8:50 a.m. 28400-07056 Snacks-Chips 95 120 .5 1.28 60 L2-FAIL . . .Jun. 28, 2002 12:00 p.m.  Coca-Cola ® Carbonated 95 120 .5 1.4 60L2-PASS Beverage

The content identifier may be any identifier associated with the contentprovided by the content signal 4910. For example, if the content is anadvertisement that shows a running shoe, then the content identifier maybe the uniform product code (UPC) associated therewith. Alternatively,the operator may assign a random or non-random alphanumeric value forthe content identifier. The content name may be an identifier associatedwith the content or a provider of the content, for example. Theoperational parameters may include any operational parameter of theelectronic display 310 that is measured or derived from the electronicdisplay 310.

As shown, the operational parameters may include temperature, volts,current, light, and refresh rate. For the running shoe visual content,operational parameters are measured and stored in the log table eachtime the content is delivered and/or played. For example, on Jun. 14,2002, at 2:45 p.m., the operating temperature of the visual appliance308 is 96 degrees Fahrenheit and the operating voltage is 120 volts withthe visual appliance 308 drawing a current of 0.5 amps. As indicated bythe verification identifier (right most column) being “L1-PASS”, thedelivery of the content signal 4910 was successful and the visualappliance 308 is deemed to be operational. The running shoeadvertisement is displayed at three minute intervals (i.e., 2:45 p.m.,2:48 p.m., and 2:51 p.m.). However, while the visual appliance 308 at2:51 p.m. is deemed to be operational at 2:48 p.m., the operationalparameters (volts and current) indicate a failure of the verificationlevel 1 of the visual appliance 308 as identified by the verificationidentifier (i.e., “L1—FAIL”).

The log table further includes data associated with a secondadvertisement. As shown, on Jun. 21, 2002, at 8:00 a.m., a“snacks-chips” advertisement having a content identifier of 28400-07056,representative of the UPC number or any other proprietary or standardnumber associated with the snack-chips product, is displayed. Theoperational parameters for the visual appliance 308 include anadditional parameter of light, which is derived from measuring a currentoperational parameter drawn by the picture tube, for example andutilizing factory setting parameters as understood in the art. The lightoperational parameter may be utilized by the visual appliance 308, andmore specifically by the limit table manager 5028, to verify that theoperational parameter is operating within an expected operationalparameter range for the given time sample of the display of the contentsignal 4910. In this case, the current measured has a correspondinglight operational parameter of 1.4 Foot-Lamberts (FL). The range ofexpected light parameters may be set between 1.3 FL and 1.5 FL, so thatthe light operational parameter for the visual content displayed at 8:30a.m. allows the rules manager 5024 of the electronic display controller312 to indicate that the display of the content signal 4910 wasacceptable from a verification level 2 standpoint. Accordingly, theverification identifier at 8:30 a.m. receives “L2—PASS”. The carbonatedbeverage advertisement is displayed every 5 minutes and continues toreceive “L2—PASS” indications until 8:50 a.m., where the lightoperational parameter falls outside the expected light operationalparameter range with a value of 1.28 FL. Accordingly, the verificationidentifier is logged as being “L2—FAIL”, which indicates a verificationlevel 2 failure.

A third visual content is shown to be communicated to the visualappliance 308 via the content signal 4910 on Jun. 28, 2002 at 12:00 p.m.The content identifier is alphanumeric and spells the name of themanufacturer “Coca-Cola®” rather than using a uniform product code (UPC)number. As described in relation to FIG. 50A, the content identifier maybe utilized as a verification code to be displayed on the visualappliance 308 to provide for verification levels 3 and 4. The deliveryand operational parameters successfully met the verification level 2conditions and, thus, a verification identifier of “L2—PASS” is logged.

It should be understood that rather than using a single log table torecord both levels of verification that separate tables may be utilizedto support each verification level. Additionally, it should beunderstood that one or more tables may be organized to record visualcontent being displayed on each visual appliance 308, thereby providingthe operator of the local server 304 easier log manageability. It shouldalso be understood that there may be more or fewer operationalparameters than those shown in TABLE 68. While the operationalparameters are shown to be static, the operational parameters may beprovided in a more detailed or time-varying format. Datafile(s)containing expected time-varying recordation of operational parametermeasurements that provides for signature analysis may be stored by thelocal server 304 expected operational parameter database 4906 d. Thesoftware 5018 may facility the datafiles for lookup by the parametriclimit table for control functions manager 5028 and rules manager 5024for performing the verification process of verification level 2.

Verification levels 3 and 4 are based on a sensing technique thatextends beyond conventional sensing of operational parameters. Asunderstood in the art, conventional sensing of operational parameters innon-production operations (i.e., beyond factory testing operations) arelimited to those parameters that may be measured electronically (i.e.,voltage or current) within the electronic display 310. Again, in thecase of determining the color or intensity of light for conventionalsystems, a current measurement is performed and a numerical conversionis performed utilizing factory established parameters as understood inthe art to estimate the light produced by the electronic display 310.Techniques for performing verification levels 3 and 4 are describedhereinafter.

To provide for content verification levels 3 and 4, a verification code(see, FIG. 53) may be generated and associated with or descriptive ofthe content that is displayed on the visual appliance 308 (see, FIG.52A). The verification code may be generated automatically or manually.If generated automatically, the verification code may be based on thename of the content datafile stored in the content database 4906 a.Alternatively, the verification code may be based on another identifierassociated with the visual content, such as the UPC number orproprietary barcode number, product or service name, or other relatedinformation stored in the content database 4906 a.

The verification code is ultimately a binary word or multiple binarywords to represent the information associated with the visual content.For example, an ASCII letter “G” may be represented as 7_(H)(hexadecimal or 01000111₂ binary). Alternatively, the verification codemay be an alphanumeric identifier generated by the content provider oroperator of the operation server 102. For example, the alphanumericidentifiers may be generated over time or for successive image frames,either serially (e.g., C001, C002, C003, etc.) or randomly (e.g., XP483,YN248, 32A3N, etc.), without repeating values, or, alternatively, usedon a limited predetermined basis to form the verification code. Stillyet, time and date may be included in generating unique verificationcodes for the associated content. For example, a verification code mayinclude a product name, date, time, and/or identifier of an visualappliance 308. If the verification code is generated manually, the sameor similar information utilized to automatically generate theverification code may be used. It should be understood that theverification code may be generated at the local server 304, electronicdisplay controller 312, electronic display 310, or a combinationthereof.

In practice, a number of techniques may be utilized to generate andapply the verification code to be displayed on the visual display 310.One embodiment includes utilizing a software tool for producing videocontent. One such software tool is Macromedia Director™. Anotherembodiment for generating and/or applying the verification code to bedisplayed via a visual verification code signal includes software orhardware operated by the local server 304, electronic display controller312, electronic display 310, either individual or by a combinationthereof. The software and/or hardware may apply the visual verificationcode signal to either an analog or digital video signal containingcontent. The digital video signal may be MPEG-1, -2, or -4, or any otherdigital video signal format supported by a communication system. Itshould be understood that the verification code may be appliedautomatically, semi-automatically, or manually by any of the subscriber204 and 206, service provider 202, advertiser, or other contentprovider/editor.

In the case of the content signal 4910 being analog, synchronizationpulses indicating the beginning of lines and fields (i.e., horizontaland vertical synchronization) as understood in the art may be utilizedto insert the visual verification code signal. In one embodiment, anon-screen display or video pattern generator, such as those used togenerate an on-screen menu guide, may be utilized to insert the visualverification code signal onto the content signal 4910 being displayed bythe visual appliance 308. For example, at a specific line and columnbased on the synchronization pulses, the content signal 4910 beingdelivered to or displayed by the visual appliance 308 is switched to thevisual verification code signal. To accomplish the switching of thesignals, an on-screen display (OSD) chip as understood in the art may beutilized.

In the case of the content signal 4910 being converted to digital by anyof the local server 304, electronic display controller 312, orelectronic display 310, a variety of techniques may be utilized todisplay the visual verification code signal in association with thecontent signal 4910. Three such techniques include (1) using the same orsimilar technique as discussed above with regard to insertion of thevisual verification code signal 5206 by counting the synchronizationpulses in conjunction with a video pattern generator, (2) forming a datastream of images of the content in memory and applying or overwritingthe visual verification code signal onto the proper locations in thememory such that the verification code is displayed at a desiredlocation on the electronic display 310, or (3) performing real-timeinsertion of the visual verification code signal into the content signal4910 utilizing video mixing equipment as understood in the art. Again,by displaying the verification code, verification levels 3 and 4 may beenabled.

FIGS. 52A-52C provide a number of exemplary embodiments for utilizing anoptical sensor for measuring illumination of a verification code. FIG.52A(1) provides an exemplary electronic display 310 having an opticalsensor 5202 coupled thereto for sensing illumination of a display region5204 identified within dashed lines for displaying a visual verificationcode signal 5206 on the screen 5208 of the electronic display 310. Theoptical sensor 5202 may be electronic or any other type of sensor (e.g.,photodiode, phototransistor, and solar cell) capable of sensingillumination of the visual verification code signal 5206 by theelectronic display 310. In one embodiment, the optical sensor 5204 isone produced by Panasonic Corporation and identified as a part numberPN335.

As can be seen on the front view of the electronic display 310 a of FIG.52A(1), the optical sensor 5202 is disposed within the display area orregion 5204 formed to display the visual code verification signal 5206.To reduce optical noise during sensing by the optical sensor 5202,including simultaneous display of the visual content and ambientlighting conditions, the optical sensor 5202 should have a field-of-viewno greater than the display region 5204 for displaying the visualverification code signal 5206.

The optical sensor 5202 may be coupled to the screen 5208 usingadhesives or other non-permanent or permanent securing materials. FIG.52A(2) shows a front isometric view of the electronic display 310 havingthe optical sensor coupled to the screen 5208. The optical sensor asshown does not have any wires for communicating the signal sensed byillumination from the visual verification code signal 5206, but ratherutilizes a wireless communication device (not shown) coupled to theoptical sensor 5202. In one embodiment, the wireless communicationdevice is produced by Radiotronix, Inc. and having part numberrtc-433-as. Alternatively, the optical sensor may be wired to anelectronic board for communicating the sensed visual verification codesignal 5206.

FIG. 52B(1) is a front view of the electronic display 310 that providesan alternative embodiment for coupling the optical sensor 5202 to theelectronic display 310 for illumination by the visual verification codesignal 5206. In this embodiment, a bracket or support member 5210 may becoupled to a housing 5212 of the electronic display 310 using adhesivesor other fastening techniques as understood in the art. As shown in FIG.52B(2), the support member 5210 is curved and disposes the opticalsensor 5204 in a position to be illuminated by display of the visualverification code signal 5206. Alternatively, the optical sensor 5202may be mounted to a support member that is not directly coupled to thehousing 5212 of the electronic display 310. In another embodiment, amirror, light pipe, optical fiber, or another light reflection devicemay be utilized to project the illumination of the visual verificationcode signal 5206 onto the optical sensor 5202 that is remotelyassociated with the electronic display 310. For some display typeshaving rear projection systems, the optical sensor 5202 may be placedbehind the viewing screen. For a front projection system, the opticalsensor 5202 may be placed at the display plane (e.g., screen) or withinthe projector itself.

FIG. 52C(1) is a front view of the electronic display 310 a showing thatthe optical sensor 5202 is not positioned externally in front of thedisplay region 5204 on the screen 5208. As shown on FIG. 52C(2), theoptical sensor 5202 is disposed within the electronic display 310 andbehind the screen 5208 by coupling the optical sensor 5202 by supportmember 5210, which is further coupled to the housing 5212 or the screen5208 of the electronic display 310 b. To illuminate the optical sensorwith the visual verification code signal 5206, a mirror 5214 reflectsthe visual code signal 5206 onto the optical sensor 5202. It should beunderstood that a beam splitter may alternatively be used to reflect thevisual code signal 5206 onto the optical sensor 5202 so that at least aportion of the visual verification code signal 5206 or other contentsignal 4910 is displayed on the screen 5208 to reduce distraction inviewing of the electronic display 310.

Another embodiment for utilizing the optical sensor 5202 is an outdoordisplay utilizing LED and LCD devices (e.g., electronic billboard).Outdoor LED displays may utilize LED bulbs, as understood in the art,where the LED bulbs include multiple light emitting diodes to producemultiple colors from a single LED bulb. To ensure that the electronicbillboard is operating properly, the optical sensor 5202 may be coupledto a portion or all of the LED bulbs. Alternatively, the optical sensor5202 may be or disposed to receive the illumination from some or all ofthe LED bulbs. Accordingly, by sensing the illumination being displayedfrom the LED bulbs, verification of content and/or display parameters(e.g., color, intensity, etc.) of the outdoor display may be performed.The optical sensor 5202 may be utilized similarly with an LCD display.

Yet another embodiment for utilizing the principles of the presentinvention includes a video display wall, where multiple electronicdisplays 310 form a large, single electronic display. In such a case,each individual electronic display 310 may have the optical sensor 5202or other feedback mechanism(s), as previously discussed, so as to ensurethe proper operation of each individual electronic display 310.

FIG. 53 is an exemplary graph 5300 for showing a digital verificationcode signal 5302 representative of a content identifier (TABLE 68),which may be utilized to form a verification code associated with acontent signal 4910. The digital verification code signal 5302 is formedof 48 bits having four (4) bits per word. The time segments T₀-T₄₈represent the time segments for each bit. For example, bit-0 extendsbetween times T₀-T₁, bit-1 extends between times T₁-T₂, bit-2 extendsbetween times T₂-T₃, and bit-3 extends between times T₃-T₄. Word 1,therefore, forms the hexadecimal number 5_(H) (i.e., binary number0101₂). Word 2, forms a hexadecimal number of (i.e., 0110₂) and word 12forms the hexadecimal number 8_(H) (i.e., 1000₂). It should beunderstood that the digital verification code signal 5302 may be formedof words having fewer or more than O-bits. For example, if alphanumericor ASCII code values are desired to be utilized for the verificationcode, then 8-bit words may be utilized, thereby providing a potential of256 values for each character.

In displaying the digital verification code signal 5302 as a visualverification code signal 5306, the bits are displayed in series (i.e.,bit-0, bit-1, bit-2, bit-3, etc.). The bits may be synchronized with thecontent signal 4910 according to the frame and/or refresh rate of theelectronic display 310. It should be further understood that othermodulation techniques may be utilized to represent the verificationcode. For example, pulse width modulation (PWM) may be utilized suchthat percentage of a word that is HIGH may be utilized in formingdifferent levels or average values that represent characters of theverification code.

FIGS. 54A-54D show a sequence of images that illustrate the digitalverification code signal 5302 (FIG. 53) being displayed as a visualverification code signal 5206 on the electronic display 310. FIGS.54A(1)-54D(1) show a sequence of the 4-bits representative of word 1 ofthe digital verification code 5302 of FIG. 53. Between times T₀ and T₁,the visual verification code signal 5206 a is highlighted, therebyindicating that the bit between times T₀ and T₁ of the digitalverification code signal 5302 is HIGH. FIG. 54B(1) has the visualverification code signal 5206 b being unhighlighted, thereby indicatingthat the second bit (i.e., bit-1) of the digital verification codesignal 5302 is LOW between times T₁ and T₂. FIG. 54C(1) again has thevisual verification code signal 5206 a being indicated as highlighted,thereby representing that the third bit of the digital verification codesignal 5302 is HIGH. FIG. 54D(1) shows the visual verification codesignal 5206 b as being unhighlighted, thereby indicating that the fourthbit of the digital verification code signal 5302 is LOW. By sensing theillumination of the visual verification code signal 5206 from each frameprovided by FIGS. 54A(1)-54D(1), a determination may be made that theverification code being represented by the digital verification codesignal 5302 and displayed by the visual verification code signal 5206 isa hexadecimal number 5_(H) (i.e., 0101₂).

FIG. 54B illustrates the digital verification code signal 5302 beingdisplayed as a combination of values (e.g., HIGH and LOW). The displayregion 5204 is formed of a visual verification code signal 5206 c havingtwo half-regions being inverse from one another. In other words, torepresent a HIGH value, shown on FIG. 54A(2), the left half 5206 e ofthe visual verification code signal 5206 c is highlighted and the righthalf 5206 f is unhighlighted. FIG. 54B(2) shows a low bit of the digitalverification code signal 5302, whereby the right half 5206 f of thevisual verification code signal 5206 d is highlighted and the left half5206 e is unhighlighted. By using a pair of sensors being configuredelectronically as a differential pair, optical noise from ambientlighting conditions may be reduced in sensing the visual verificationcode signal 5206 illuminated by the electronic display 310. It should beunderstood that other configurations and/or patterns generated torepresent a HIGH value and a LOW value of the digital verification codesignal 5302 may be utilized for sensing purposes.

Further, the HIGH and LOW colors may be other than black and white. Forexample, an operator may desire to verify that the colors (i.e., red,green, blue) of the electronic display 310 are operating properly. Toverify the colors, the visual verification code signal 5206 may becycled or selectively turned on independent of the other colors toverify that (i) each color is operating and (2) the intensity of eachcolor is balanced with respect to the other colors. Still yet, thevisual verification code signal 5206 may be formed to appropriatelymatch other colors surrounding the content identification region tominimize distraction for the viewer as the visual verification codesignal 5206 is being displayed by the electronic display 310. Anothertechnique for verifying the colors may include applying the colorssimultaneously with the substantially same or different intensities andmeasured accordingly.

FIG. 55A is an exemplary flow chart 5500 a describing an operation forthe verification level 3 of the visual content being displayed on thevisual appliance 308 of FIG. 3C. The verification level 3 process startsat step 5502. At step 5504, a digital signal representative of averification code is converted to a visual verification code signal5206. The verification code signal 5206 is displayed in relation to acontent signal 4910, where the visual verification code signal 5206 maybe displayed prior to, in conjunction with, or after the content signal4910. By displaying the visual verification code signal 5206 in relationto the visual content signal, knowledge that a particular content signal4910 was displayed may be determined by measuring the visualverification code signal 5206.

At step 5508, the digital verification code signal 5302 displayed as avisual verification code signal 5206 is read. In reading the visualverification code signal 5206, the illumination of the visualverification code signal 5206 may be sensed by optical sensors 5204 andmeasured by circuitry and/or software. At step 5510, a verification codeis determined based on the read visual verification code signal 5206.The verification code is the code based on a content identifier andgenerated to form the digital verification code signal 5302. Bydetermining the verification code as represented by the visualverification code signal 5206, a high level of certainty as to whichcontent signal 4910 displayed can be made for successfully providingverification level 3. The verification level 3 process ends at step B.

FIG. 55B is an exemplary flow chart 5400 b describing verification level4, which indicates that a particular content signal 4910 is timely andproperly displayed on the visual appliance 308 of FIG. 3C. The processstarts at step B, which is an extension of the process of FIG. 55A. Atstep 5512, operational parameter(s) are sensed. In sensing theoperational parameters, the optical sensor(s) 5054 may be utilized tomeasure operational parameters of the visual appliance 308. The processcontinues at step A of FIG. 51B so as to determine values of the sensedoperational parameters and compare the sensed values with expectedoperational parameter values to determine (1) the quality of the visualcontent signal being displayed and (2) perform signature analysis of theoperational parameter(s). In one embodiment, signature analysis may beperformed by measuring each of the component colors displayed by thevisual verification code signal 5206. The verification level 4 processends at step 5514.

While the principles of the present invention provide for feedback ofparameters associated with the display of the content, it should beunderstood that feedback of parameters associated with audio may also beutilized in accordance with the principles of the present invention. Inthe case of feeding back audio parameters, measurements of audiocharacteristics rather than optical characteristics are performed. Suchaudio characteristics may include fidelity (e.g., static andinterference), volume, range dynamics, etc.

In accordance with verification levels (1) and (2), measurement andknowledge of sensory information, such as audio, being communicated toan electronic device (e.g., the visual appliance 308) may establishverification that the sensory information (e.g., audio and/or video) isproperly communicated and output or played by the electronic device. Atransducer or microphone (not shown) may be utilized to sense the audioproduced by the electronic display 310 or, optionally, a remotelylocated radio. In one embodiment, the feedback of the audio measurementsmay be utilized to verify that the audio is operating properly. Thefeedback may additionally be fed-back to provide for the volume toautomatically be adjusted to a particular level. For example, in thecase of the visual appliance 308 being located in an aisle of a grocerystore, the volume may be adjusted to a predetermined level to enableindividuals within a certain distance (e.g., eight feet) to hear theaudio being produced by the visual appliance 308.

In accordance with verification levels (3) and (4), an audioverification code may cause an audio verification code signal that mayor may not be heard by the human ear (i.e., at a very high or lowfrequency), but is capable of being produced by a sound system andmeasured by an audio sensor. The measurement of the audio verificationcode signal may be fed-back to the local server 304 to verify that aparticular audio and/or video content is played by the output device(e.g., radio or visual appliance 308). To further improve the audioverification, speech recognition may be used to detect key words orphrases embedded into the audio content to “blend” the audioverification code into the content itself.

An audio selection flag may be established for each visual appliance 308at the local server 304. If the operator of the visual appliance 308does not want to play the audio, the audio selection flag may be set toan OFF state, thereby preventing error conditions from being reportedwhen the measurement of the audio signal from the visual appliance 308results in an OFF condition. Otherwise, an error condition may bereported and the operator may correct the audio problem manually,semi-automatically, or automatically.

System Databases

TABLES 69-71 are exemplary databases that provide for maintaininginformation associated with the service provider 202 and subscribers 204and 206. Additionally, the tables for maintaining information inconnection with the service provider server 702, local servers 304 andvisual appliances 308. Additionally, TABLES 73-75 maintain informationassociated with the content, operation of the components, and financialobligations (e.g., billing) of the subscribers 204 and 206 to theservice provider 202.

TABLE 69 Server Provider Server Database(s) Local Server PopulationVisual Appliance Population Content Playlists Accumulated Logs StorageMapping Reporting Billing

TABLE 69 includes databases maintained by the service provider server702 that includes information associated with the equipment, (e.g.,local servers 304 and visual appliances 308), content and schedules forthe content to be played on the visual appliances 308, billing, andreporting. The local server population database is utilized to maintaininformation associated with local servers 304 that are distributedamongst the subscribers 204 and 206. Such information may includedetailed information identifying the local servers, locations,operators, software version, etc. The visual appliance populationdatabase includes information associated with the visual appliances 308that are being utilized on the communications system 200 operatingwithin the facilities 208 of the subscribers 204 and 206. The visualappliance population database may associate the visual appliances 308 incommunication with specific local servers 304. Additionally, the visualappliance population database includes identification informationassociated with the each of the visual appliances 308. Still yet, thevisual appliance population database may include other relevantinformation associated with each visual appliance 308, includingsoftware version, processor, age, screen size, refresh rate, etc. Thecontent database may include content information associated with eachsubscriber 204 and 206. For example, the content information may includelocation of storage of the content, size of the content, type ofcontent, cumulative size of content, average moves per month of content,etc. The playlist database includes playlists generated maintained bythe subscribers 204 and 206 and used to display the content on thevisual appliances 308 located at the facilities 208.

The accumulated logs database includes logs generated by the localservers 304 and visual appliances 308. The accumulated logs may includeperformance, health, number of plays, verification information, etc. Itshould be understood that the accumulated logs are typically a summaryof the log information provided by the local servers 304 and visualappliances 308. However, a complete set of logs may also be maintained.

The storage mapping database includes location of the content beingstored for the subscribers 204 and 206. Because the equipment, such asthe local servers 304, are owned by the service provider in one businessmodel, the service provider is able to maintain storage for content forthe different subscribers anywhere within the network of local servers304. In other words, because the content is not deemed to be criticalbusiness data, the subscribers 204 and 206 may share storage on thelocal servers 304 with data of other subscribers 204 and 206. Therefore,a storage mapping of the content is utilized by the service provider 202to maintain location information of the content being stored for eachsubscriber 204 and 206. The reporting database is utilized formaintaining information associated with reporting usage and billinginformation to the subscribers 204 and 206. The billing database isutilized for billing purposes for maintaining billing records for thesubscribers 204 and 206 for utilization of the services provided by theservice provider 202. For example, the billing information may includedistribution of data charges via the satellite 218 on a per unit ofmeasure (e.g., megabytes) rate. Additionally, the billing informationmay include storing content on a per unit per time of measure basis(e.g., megabytes for a month). It should be understood that otherbilling arrangements may be maintained by the billing databases asdescribed herein and as understood in the art.

TABLE 70 Local Server Database(s) Local Server ID Visual AppliancePopulation Type Location Current Content Visual Appliance ID MAC AddressIP Address Subscription ID Accumulated Logs from Visual ApplianceContent Playlists Content Start Time End Time Specific Location Storage

TABLE 70 includes databases maintained by the local server 304. Thedatabases may include local server identification information, visualappliance population, accumulated logs from the visual appliances 308,content, playlists, and storage. The local server identificationinformation may include addresses, serial numbers, etc. The visualappliance population may include type, location (within the facilities208), current content, visual appliance identification number, MACaddress, IP address, etc. The location information may be associatedwith the planogram of the facilities 208 as understood in the art. Theaccumulated logs from the visual appliance may include performance,health, type ID, start and stop of content play, number of plays,verification information, or any other information generated by thevisual appliances 308. The content database may include a list ofcontent being stored by the local server 304. In one embodiment, thecontent database includes a list of content to be played on theassociated visual appliances 308.

The playlist database may include content, start time, end time,subscription ID, content ID, visual appliance ID, specific location forthe visual appliance 308, etc. The playlist database may be utilized bythe manager of a facility 208 to ensure that the content is displayed inassociation with product located at the facility. For example, a managerof a grocery facility is to notify personnel that a particular visualappliance 308 is to be placed in association (e.g., attached to aparticular shelf) with a particular product. For example, a soupadvertisement is to have the visual appliance 308 located or positionedin relation to the soup product. Therefore, the facility manager mayverify and confirm that the visual appliance 308 to play the soupadvertisement is located at or has been moved to a shelf that stores thesoup prior to distribution of the content to the visual appliance 308. Averification of the location of the visual appliance 308 may beperformed automatically prior to the content being communicated ordisplayed. If it is determined that the visual appliance 308 is notproperly located for display of the particular content, a notificationmay be sent to the subscriber 204 to move the visual appliance 308. Thestorage database may maintain information associated with the content tobe displayed by the visual appliances 308 at the facility 208.Additionally, the storage database may maintain information associatedwith all content being stored by the local server 304, whether or not itis to be displayed by the visual appliances 308 at the facility 208.

TABLE 71 Visual Appliance Database(s) Visual Appliance AddressInformation Local Server ID MAC Address IP Address ESN Location IDVisual Appliance ID Subscription ID Content Log Performance Health TypeID Start/End Number of Plays Verification Information Correct ID FrameRate Color Intensity Performance Correct Resolution for Screen

TABLE 71 is an exemplary set of databases that are maintained by thevisual appliances 308 of FIG. 3C. The databases may include visualappliance ID information, including local server ID, MAC address, IPaddress, EFN, location ID, subscription ID, and visual appliance IDnumber, for example. The location ID may be associated with a planogrammapping of a facility 208 and updated each time the visual appliance 308is moved from one location to another. The updating may be performed atthe visual appliance 308 via a touch screen or local connection toensure that the location information has been updated appropriately. Thecontent database maintains the current content information that isdownloaded onto the visual appliance 308. Content database may includedate of download, size of file, name of content, type of content,subscriber ID, etc., as provided by the subscriber 204 into a playlist.

The log database maintains information associated with operation of thevisual appliance 308. The log database may include information, such asperformance and alerts of the visual appliance 308. For example, theperformance may include temperature or other environmental andoperational conditions of the visual appliance 308, either determined bythe electronic display controller 312 or electronic display 310. The loginformation may also maintain information associated with the contentbeing displayed by the visual appliance 308, including type ID,start/end time, subscriber ID, and number of plays. The type ID may bethe type of content being displayed, such as a still or video image. Thestart/end times may be utilized to verify that the content is beingdisplayed by the visual appliance 308, including the number of timesplayed on the visual appliance 308. The verification information may beutilized to provide the subscribers 204 and 206 with a “electronictearsheet” for verification purposes utilizing the verification levelsdescribed hereinbefore. The verification information may include correctID, frame rate, color, intensity, performance, correct resolution forscreen and/or other verification information. Accordingly, the visualappliance 308 may perform a summary or accumulation of the loginformation prior to communicating the log information to the localserver 304. By accumulating the log information, a minimal amount ofbandwidth and storage space may be utilized while still capturing enoughinformation for reporting and billing purposes. Alternatively, thevisual appliance 308 may be notified to upload log information to thelocal server 304, which may in turn, upload the log information to theservice provider server 402.

Because the visual appliance 308 is formed of the electronic displaycontroller 312 and electronic display 310 in either an integrated orseparate configuration, a wide variety of designs of the visualappliance 308 may be utilized in accordance with the principles of thepresent invention. The designs may range from small, light-weight,flat-panel LCD screens that may be integrated onto facility shelves,display stands, peg-board displays, and other display structures.Additionally, the visual appliances may be integrated into functionalproduct dispensers, such as candy machines, soft-drink dispensers,beer-tap dispensers, cigarette machines, etc. In other non-integratedembodiments of the visual appliance 308, the electronic displaycontroller 312 may be coupled to an existing electronic display, such asa CRT or television, for download and display of the content.

System User Interfaces

FIGS. 56A-56D show a set of user interfaces 56 provided by thesubscribers 204 and 206 to utilize for providing broadcasting servicesusing the communications system 200. The user interfaces may include alibrary user interface 5602, scheduling/transmission user interface5604, site selection user interface 5606, and account interface 5608.The user interfaces 5600 allow the subscribers 204 and 206 to handlecontent being maintained, communicated, and displayed at the facilities208 of the subscribers 204 and 206. Additionally, the user interfaces5600 provide for receiving and reporting account (e.g., billing)information.

The library user interface 5602 of FIG. 56A allows for the subscribers204 and 206 to manage content being stored by the service provider 202.The library user interface 5602 may be formed in a hierarchicalstructure or folder based structure as understood in the art.Alternatively, the library user interface 5602 may utilize a contentmanagement system that manages the content in a “black-box” manner. Thelibrary or content database partitions the content being stored by thesubscribers 204 and 206 so that each subscriber 204 and 206 is preventedfrom viewing content of other subscribers. The library user interface5602 may be utilized for subscribers 204 and 206 who engage the systemfor storage and/or broadcast purposes. In other words, the library userinterface 5602 may be utilized for a variety of different subscriptiontypes.

Subscribers 204 who upload the content to the library may establishrules for distributing the content via the library user interface 5602.For example, if a new product advertisement is uploaded, but intended tobe confidential until a certain release date, the subscriber 204 may seta restriction date by which the service provider server 702 prevents thecontent from being distributed. Additionally, the library user interface5602 may enable the user to set rules for storage of the content. Forexample, a rule may be established to always maintain a backup copy ofthe content at least one time zone away.

The scheduling/transmission user interface 5604 of FIG. 56B allows thesubscribers 204 and 206 to establish times, locations, and/or visualappliances 308 for the content being maintained by the library to bebroadcast. The scheduling/transmission interface 5604 may be utilizedfor generating playlists for the content to be distributed and played onthe visual appliances 308. The scheduling/transmission user interface5604 may provide the subscriber 204 with the ability to categorize thefacilities 208 and/or visual appliances 308 into a variety of categoriesfor multicasting the content. For example, the facilities 208 may becategorized into regions (e.g., midwest), venues (e.g., malls), size(e.g., over 100,000 sq. ft.), type (e.g., clothing store), locations(e.g., northeast), owners (e.g., Southwest Enterprises), or any othercategory for the facilities 208 to be associated. The visual appliances308 also may be categorized for multicasting, including categorizing bylocations (e.g., store fronts), regions (e.g., northeast), venues (e.g.,malls), departments (e.g., mens wear), planogram defined locations(e.g., aisle 3), associated products (e.g., jellies), associatedservices (e.g., lawn services), size (e.g., 48×36-inch electronicdisplays), or any other category for the visual appliances 308 to beassociated. Still yet, the scheduling/transmission user interface 5604may include pricing to be provided to the subscribers 204 and 206 in adynamic fashion as the subscribers 204 and 206 define the content to bebroadcast. The subscriber 204 and 206 may select content distributiondelivery options based on priority. For example, content that is to bebroadcast in a few weeks may be sent as low-priority, while content tobe broadcast the same day may be selected as a high-priority delivery,which may have a higher cost as established by the communicationsnetwork service provider 216.

The site selection user interface 5606 of FIG. 56C may provide thesubscribers 204 and 206 the ability to establish details for thefacilities 208. Such details may include address, facility manager,planogram, size, products, facility hours, venue, owner, facility ID,and/or any other details to assist the service provider 202 andsubscriber 204 with providing infrastructure and content distributionservices. One or more planogram may be generated and associated with thefacilities 208 of the subscribers 204 and 206 on an individual orcollective basis, thereby providing the subscribers 204 and 206 an easyway to manage and service infrastructure and schedule the content forbroadcasting.

The account information user interface 5608 of FIG. 56D provides thesubscribers 204 and 206 the ability to view account information,including billing and revenue. The subscribers 204 and 206 may be billedaccording to usage of the communications system 200, such as on a perunit of size per unit of time (e.g., megabytes/month). The subscribers204 and 206 may, in turn, form revenue by billing the advertisers forthe broadcast services. Additionally, the account information userinterface 5608 may provide for the verification information thatindicates that the content was timely and properly displayed on thevisual appliances 308. It should be understood that the accountinformation user interface 5608 may provide other administrativeinformation and functionality as understood in the art.

Business Models for System Utilization

Revenue Stream Models

FIG. 57 is an exemplary block diagram that describes a subscriptionmodel 5700 for the service provider 202 of FIG. 2 to provide the contentmanagement and distribution services according to the principles of thepresent invention. Because the cost of the infrastructure is generallycost prohibitive for most retailers, the subscription model 5700generally enables both large and small subscribers 204 a-204 n(collectively 204) to utilize the infrastructure and profit from theusage by selling advertisement space, communication, access, capacity toadvertisers 5702.

More specifically, the service provider 202 engages the communicationservices of the communications network service provider 216 to providecommunication services 5703 via the communications system 200 for thesubscribers 204. The communication services 5903 may be via thesatellite 218 to provide substantially complete communications coveragefor the United States and/or other continents. To provide thecommunications network service provider 216 with subscribers 204, theservice provider 202 may offer a subscription based service to thesubscribers 204 that enables the subscribers 204 to utilize the contentdelivery maintenance and distribution technology in accordance with theprinciples of the present invention without having to purchase theinfrastructure 5704 (e.g., local servers 304 and visual appliances 308).In providing the subscriptions 5708 to the subscribers 204, the serviceprovider 202 establishes subscriptions 5708 for the infrastructure 5704and services 5706 at minimal or no cost to the subscribers 204. In oneembodiment, the subscriber 204 pays usage fees of the infrastructure5704 irrespective of the type or amount of infrastructure 5704 utilized.In another embodiment, the subscriber 204 pays for usage of a certainnumber of visual appliances 308. The usage fees may includecommunication and/or storage fees in terms of capacity communicatedand/or content stored over a given time period.

The infrastructure 5704 may include all of the equipment necessary tooperate as a broadcast provider for advertisers within the facilities208 of the subscriber 204. For example, the infrastructure 5704 mayinclude a home office and individual facility equipment. The home officeequipment may include a satellite dish, home office server, home officeterminals, and home office network equipment. The individual facilityequipment may include a satellite dish 302, local server 304, wirelessaccess point 314, wired access point, storage units, and visualappliances 308.

Additionally, the service provider 202 provides the services 5706 toinstall and maintain the infrastructure 5704. Because the infrastructure5704 is not owned by the subscriber 204, but merely utilized, thesubscriber 204 may receive the installation and maintenance services5706 as part of a subscriber agreement or subscription 5708. And,because the infrastructure 5704 is not owned by the subscriber 204, thesubscriber 204 may treat the infrastructure usage as an expense ratherthan having to treat the infrastructure 5704 as a capital asset on abalance sheet, thereby minimizing exposure to the equipment andtechnology becoming outdated while still being depreciated.

In addition to the installation and maintenance services 5704 providedby the service provider 202, the service provider 202 provides thecontent management and distribution services for the subscribers 204. Aspreviously discussed, the service provider 202 offers a networkinterface to enable the subscribers 204 to upload the content of theadvertisers 5702 and schedule the content for distribution and play onthe visual appliances 308 at the facilities of the subscribers 204.Because the subscribers 204 operate as the broadcaster, the subscribers204 have incentive to seek advertising from the advertisers 5702 fromboth an advertising revenue and product movement (i.e., sales)point-of-view. Utilizing the revenue model 5700 of FIG. 57, thesubscribers 204 may incur advertising revenue without having to manageand maintain the infrastructure 5704.

The subscription 5708 may establish subscription fees 5708 for usage ofthe infrastructure 5704 to be in the form of usage fees for bothcommunication services 5703 and storage for the content. For thecommunication services 5903, the subscription fees 5710 may beestablished as a fee per billable unit of measure over a unit of time.For example, the subscriber 204 may by charged a certain amount of moneyper megabyte per month (e.g., $1/megabyte/month). Further, the serviceprovider 202 may be able to predetermine a date of profitability bysetting a minimum subscription fee on the unit of time (e.g., monthly).If the subscriber 204 is able to sell additional content broadcastingservices and the volume of communications is over the minimum unit, thena premium communications fee 5711 may be charged to the subscriber 204.However, while the communications fee may be charged to the subscriber204, the communications fee may be passed through to the advertisers5702 that utilize the broadcasting services so as to minimize cost tothe subscribers 204. Depending on the agreement between the subscriber204 and advertisers 5702, the overhead (e.g., communications and storagefees) may be applied to the cost of advertising for the advertisers5702.

For the storage fees, the service provider 202 may offer the subscriber204 storage fees for the content on a per unit measure over a unit oftime (e.g., megabytes per month) Additionally, a minimum amount ofstorage capacity for content without cost on a unit of time basis (e.g.,monthly) for promotional purposes, based on the number of visualappliances 308 utilized, based on the number of facilities 208 that thesubscriber 204 owns, based on the subscription fees, etc. Any storagecapacity utilized over the minimum, the service provider 202 may assessa premium storage fee to the subscriber 204. Additional discussion withregard to distributed storage utilizing the principles of the presentinvention is provided in conjunction with FIGS. 65 and 66.

In operation, the subscribers 204 sell advertising services, access,capacity, advertising space, etc., which include the communicationservices 5703 of the communications network service provider 216 andcontent management by the service provider 202, to the advertisers 5702within the facilities 208 of the subscribers 204. In return for thebroadcasting services, the subscribers 204 collect advertising fees5714, which may be include collecting for miscellaneous fees, such ascommunication and/or storage premium fees, passed through from thesubscriber 204 to the advertiser 5702. The subscribers 204 upload andschedule the content 5712 to be distributed to the proper visualappliances 308 as requested by the advertisers 5702 as discussedhereinbefore. Accordingly, the cost for broadcasting and/or storing thecontent may be applied to the advertising fees 5714 paid by theadvertisers 5702.

If the subscriber 206 is a manufacturer or advertiser that places thevisual appliances 308 into the facilities 208 of its customers (e.g.,grocery store), then the subscriber 206 may not have advertisers 5902because the subscriber 206 is, in-fact, the advertiser. The subscriber206 in this case may have a lower overhead cost because the subscriber206 may not pay for surcharges that the subscriber 204 (e.g., retailer)would assess to the subscriber 206. Additionally, the subscriber 206essentially guarantees the dedicated usage of the infrastructure 5904(e.g., visual appliances 308) over time. In other words, if the brandsubscriber 206 is large enough, the brand subscriber 206 may purchase along-term subscription 5908 from the service provider 202, therebymaking the subscription 5708 more cost effective for the subscriber 206.The subscriber 206 may thereafter place the visual appliances 308 intothe facilities 208 in association with the products of the subscriber206 and control the content being distributed to the visual appliances308. If the facilities 208 of the customers of the subscriber 206 do nothave the necessary infrastructure 5904 for communication of the contentto the visual appliances 308, then the brand subscribers 206 may, inessence, “push” and/or subsidize the customers to become subscribers 204of the service provider 202. Brand subscribers 206 who push thecustomers may achieve a “charter subscriber” status, which enables thebrand subscriber 206 to operate under a “special” agreement with theservice provider, thereby enabling the charter subscriber to serviceselect retailers.

In one embodiment, the subscription fees are based on the costs of theinfrastructure utilized by the subscriber 204. In determining thecapacity utilization fees, a total cost of the local server 304,receiver 303, visual appliances 308, and wireless access point 314 maybe computed and divided into the term of the subscription (e.g., 5years).

To produce revenue to continue to produce the infrastructure forsubscribers, initial subscriptions sold to large business entitieshaving good credit (e.g., credit rating of A) may be sold to financialinstitutions for a discount, thereby producing revenue. Once the revenueis no longer needed to capitalize the infrastructure, the serviceprovider 202 may keep the subscriptions and the subscription feesgenerated therefrom.

FIG. 58 is an exemplary flow diagram 5800 describing operation of therevenue stream 5700 depicted in FIG. 57. The process for establishingthe revenue stream for the subscriber 202 starts at step 5802. At step5804, infrastructure is provided to the subscriber 204. Theinfrastructure may be provided to the subscriber 204 at, below, or nocost to the subscriber 204 as payment for the infrastructure 5704 issupported by the subscription 5708 for utilizing the infrastructure 5704via content management and communication services by the serviceprovider 202. At step 5806, subscriber-controlled scheduling and storageservices are provided for the subscriber 204. where thesubscriber-controlled scheduling services allow the subscribers toschedule the content 5712 for distribution and display on the visualappliances 308. Because the subscriber 204 controls the scheduling ofcontent for distribution and display at the visual appliances 308located in the facility(s) 208 of the subscriber 204, the subscriber 204is motivated to schedule as many advertisements or content delivery aspossible. At step 5808, communication services 5703 via thecommunications network service provider 216 are arranged. In utilizingthe communications system 200, the subscriber 204 may be billed on acapacity utilization basis. At step 5810, the subscriber is billed forthe capacity utilized. The process ends at step 5812.

Network Affiliate Model

FIG. 59 is an exemplary block diagram that describes a network affiliatesubscription model 5900 that utilizes a point-of-purchase (POP) displaymanufacturer 5902 and advertisement agencies/manufacturer advertiser5904 to offer the content management and distribution services of theservice provider 202 of FIG. 2 in accordance with products and/orservices offered by the POP display manufacturer 5902 and advertisementagency/manufacturer advertiser 5904. POP display manufacturers 5902 facea competitive market with regard to selling point-of-purchase displays.The business model for POP display manufacturers 5902 has traditionallybeen to manufacture and sell the point-of-purchase displays withoutpotential for any residual financial benefits after the sale of thedisplays.

In accordance with the principles of the present invention, the POPdisplay manufacturer 5902 may execute an agreement 5906 that enables thePOP display manufacturer 5902 to incorporate the visual appliances 308into point-of-purchase displays 5908 and sell subscriptions 5910 tosubscribers 204 with the point-of-purchase display 6908 for the serviceprovider 202. The POP display manufacturer 5902 may reduce or eliminatethe cost of the point-of-purchase display 5908 by selling thesubscription 6910 due to the service provider 202 providing residualrevenue over the life of the subscription 5910. Accordingly, thesubscriber 204 may pay the POP display manufacturer 5902 fees 5912 forthe cost of the point-of-purchase display 5908 and the service provider202 fees 5914 for the usage of the services. Additionally, the POPdisplay manufacturer may pay fees 5916 to the service provider forinfrastructure and/or services in producing the point-of-purchasedisplay 5908 and the service provider 202 may financially compensate tothe POP display manufacturer 5902 for the initial sale of thesubscription 5910 and residual revenue in the form of fees 5918 duringthe lifetime of the subscription 5910.

The POP display manufacturer 5902 may additionally and/or alternativelysell the point-of-purchase display 5908 for fees 5902 to theadvertisement agency/manufacturer advertiser 5904, who may sell ordistribute the point-of-purchase display 5908 to the subscriber 204 toassist with sales of products and/or services. The POP displaymanufacturer 5902 may sell a subscription 5910 to the advertisementagency/manufacturer advertiser 5904 with the point-of-purchase display5908 to offset the cost of the point-of-purchase display 5908,optionally. Accordingly, the advertisement agency/manufactureradvertiser 5904 may pay the subscription fee 5914 directly to theservice provider 202. Accordingly, the POP display manufacturer 5902 mayreceive financial compensation for the sale of the subscription 5910 andfor residual revenue during the lifetime of the subscription 5910.

FIG. 60A is an exemplary flow diagram 6000 describing the subscriptionmodel 5900 of FIG. 59. The subscription model process starts at step6002. At 6004, an agreement 5906 is established with the POP displaymanufacturer 5902 to provide visual appliance(s) 308 forpoint-of-purchase displays 5908 and communication services based on asubscription that may be offered by the POP display manufacturer 5902 tosubscribers 204 and 206. The visual appliance(s) 308 may be provided tothe POP display manufacturer 5902 at, below, or no cost to the POPdisplay manufacturer 5902 for integration into the point-of-purchasedisplays 5908 so as to encourage the POP display manufacturer 5902 toincorporate the visual appliances 308 into the point-of-purchasedisplays 5908. At step 6006, subscriber-controlled schedule andcommunications services based on the subscription 5910 may be providedto the subscribers 204 and 206. The process ends at step 6008.

FIG. 60B is an exemplary flow diagram 6010 describing the networkaffiliate subscription model 5900 of FIG. 59 from the view of the POPdisplay manufacturer 5902. The process starts at step 6012. At step6014, a point-of-purchase fixture or display 5908 having at least onevisual appliance incorporated therein is formed. The point-of-purchasefixture 5908 is distributed to subscribers 204 and 206 who utilize thepoint-of-purchase fixtures 5908 in displaying products at step 6036. Atstep 6018, a subscription is sold by the POP display manufacturer 5902for services to utilize the visual appliance(s) 308 to the subscribers204 and 206. The process ends at step 6020.

Sign Management Model

FIG. 61 is an exemplary block diagram describing a subscription modelfrom a service provider 202 of FIG. 2 to a sign management company 6102.As understood in the art, the sign management company 6102 typicallymanages out-of-home signs that are visible to the viewing public.Because the sign management company 6102 currently manages establishedsigns located on prime areas of real estate, the service provider 202 ismotivated to work with the sign management company 6102. The signmanagement company 6102 may execute a subscription 6104 to utilize theinfrastructure 5904 provided by the service provider 202. Thesubscription 6104 may obligate the service provider 202 to replace thecurrent signs of the sign management company 6102 with visual appliances308 and obligate the sign management company 6102 to utilize the contentmanagement and distribution services of the service provider 202 for aminimum number of years, for example. As understood in the art, the signmanagement company 6102 sells advertising space for the sign locationsto advertisers. In accordance with the principles of the presentinvention, the sign management company 6102 may sell advertisement spaceon the visual appliances 308 for the replaced signs and manage thecontent provided by the advertisers 5902 by utilizing the contentmanagement services provided by the service provider 202. Accordingly, asubscription fee 6106 may be paid to the service provider 202 on asubstantially periodic basis based on usage of the communication andstorage capacity utilized by the sign management company 6102 fordistribution and storage of the content 5912. Further in accordance withthe principles of the present invention, the service provider 202 mayprovide the infrastructure 5904 to the sign management company 6102 at,below, or without cost to the sign management company 6102.

Billing System Bridge Model

FIG. 62 is an exemplary block diagram 6200 that provides for a billingsystem bridge for subscribers 204 of the service provider 202.performing the billing system bridge, the service provider 202 utilizesthe infrastructure 5904 provided to the subscribers 204 toelectronically distribute bills or invoices 6202 a and 6204 a to thedifferent subscribers 204. As shown, the subscribers 204 may include aretailer 6203 and an out-of-home advertiser 6205. The bills 6202 a and6204 a may be “passed through” the subscribers 204 to the advertisers5902 a-5902 m and 5902 a-5902 n, respectively, in the form of bills 6202b and 6204 b. The billing system bridge, which may be operated by theserver utilized by the home office of the subscribers 204, may (i)operate on or in conjunction with an accounting software package asunderstood in the art and (ii) incorporate the bills 6202 a and 6204 agenerated by the subscribers 204 utilizing the services of the serviceprovider 202 into the bills 6202 b and 6204 b for the advertisingservices provided to the advertisers 5902. In other words, the billingsystem bridge may seamlessly provide a mechanism for passing the billsfrom the service provider 202 to the advertisers 5902 for thesubscribers 204. Alternatively, the bills 6202 a and 6204 a may beformatted in accordance with information of the subscribers 6203 and6205, including letterhead, cost structures, etc., and be merely sentfrom the subscribers 204 to the advertisers 5902 without incorporatinginto an account package managed by the subscribers 204.

FIG. 63A is another billing system bridge model 6300 for subscribers 204to bill advertisers 5902 utilizing the communications system 200 of FIG.2. As shown, a service provider billing system 6302 issues an invoice6304 to a subscriber billing system 6306, which may operate on a serverutilized by a home office of the subscriber 204. The invoice 6304 mayinclude fees generated by the subscriber 204 utilizing thecommunications and storage services provided by the service provider202. As shown, the fees of the invoice 6304 are for a total of $A forthe advertiser 5902. In response to the subscriber billing system 6306receiving the invoice 6304, an invoice 6308 including (i) the fees $Afor the service provider fees and (ii) the costs or fees $B associatedwith the advertiser 5902 for advertising on the visual appliances 308operated by the subscriber 204 at the facilities 208. As shown, theinvoice 6308 is for a total of $A+$B. Alternatively, a percentage markupmay be applied to the bill for the subscriber 204. In response to theinvoice 6308, the advertiser 5902 sends the subscriber 204 a payment6310 for $A+$B. The subscriber 204, in turn, sends the service provider202 a payment 6312 of $A. By utilizing such a billing system bridgemodel 6300, the fees for utilizing the content management anddistribution services provided by the service provider 202 to thesubscriber 204 may be seamless and/or invisible to the advertiser 5902.It should be understood that the invoice 6304 provided by the serviceprovider billing system 6302 may be on an individual advertiser basis oron a cumulative basis for all of the advertisers 5902 serviced by thesubscriber 204 depending on how the subscriber billing system 6306 isset-up.

FIG. 63B is an exemplary flow diagram 6314 describing a process forperforming the billing system bridge model 6300 of FIG. 63A. The processstarts at 6316. At step 6318, a subscription is established with thesubscriber 204 to provide content management, distribution and storageservices. At step 6320, advertising scheduling services for thesubscriber 204 are provided. At step 6322, communication of the contentbased on a schedule established by the subscriber 204 is initiated. Thecost of content management and communication for the advertisingservices are determined at step 6324. At step 6326, the cost ofcommunication for inclusion into a bill from the subscriber 204 to theadvertiser 5902 is communicated. In one embodiment, the cost is acumulative cost for all advertisers 6302 of the subscriber 204.Alternatively, the cost of content management and communication isseparated for individual advertisers 6302 of the subscriber 204. Theprocess ends at step 6328.

System Appendages Model

FIG. 64 is an exemplary block diagram 6400 representative of the localnetwork 300 b of a facility 208 of a subscriber 204 of FIG. 2. The localnetwork 300 b may utilize the infrastructure 5904 provided by theservice provider 202 and other equipment provided by a vendor of theservice provider 202. Vendors of the service provider 202 may beproviders or manufacturers of the local server 304, who also produceretail equipment 6402 and 6404 that the subscriber 204 utilizes at thefacility 208 for performing retail functions. For example, the vendormay provide cash registers that retailers utilize in performingoperations for retail and services. Additionally, and/or alternatively,the vendors may provide services that the subscribers 204 utilize inperforming the retailing services. For example, the communicationsnetwork service provider 216 may provide credit card confirmationcommunication services for the subscribers 204, where the retailerscurrently purchase infrastructure for the credit card confirmationcommunication services.

Accordingly, the vendors of the service provider 202 may sell or providesubscriptions to the subscribers 204 to the content management anddistribution services provided by the service provider 202 inconjunction with selling equipment and/or services to the subscribers204. In other words, the vendors may sell appendages to theinfrastructure 5904 provided by the service provider 202 that operatesin conjunction with the infrastructure 5904. For example, cash registersmay be connected to the local server 304 or other services thatsimultaneously operates the visual appliances 308. This selling of asubscription by the service provider 202 to the subscribers 204 may be a“value-added” service that entices the subscribers 204 to purchase theequipment 6402 from the vendors. It should be understood that the vendorequipment 6402 may be provided at, below or without cost to thesubscribers 204 in connection with the purchasing of a subscription tothe services of the service provider 202. Alternatively, theinfrastructure 5904 may be provided to the subscribers 204 in connectionwith purchasing of a subscription directly from the service provider 202and the equipment 6402 and 6404 may be provided to the subscriber 204 asan add-on to the infrastructure 5904, thereby enticing the subscriber204 to purchase a subscription from the service provider 202. Still yet,the service provider 202 may offer reduced or free credit cardverification communication services from the communications networkservice provider 216, or network operated by the service provider 202,in conjunction with a subscriber 204 purchasing the subscription for thecontent management and distribution services. Again, because the serviceprovider 202 is able to accurately determine a minimum amount of revenuegenerated by selling subscriptions to the subscribers 204 for thecontent management and distribution services over a long term period(e.g., five years), the service provider 202 may provide a variety ofdifferent subscription options in conjunction with equipment andservices provided by vendors of the service provider 202.

A variety of functional operations may be provided by the local server304 due to the equipment 6402 and 6404 and visual appliances 308 beingsimultaneously managed by the local server 304. One such functionaloperation may include dynamic pricing of products. Because the localserver 304 may monitor product sales real-time, pricing changes may bedisplayed on the visual appliances 308 in substantial real-time. If aproduct is briskly or sluggishly selling, then the price may bedynamically altered by providing notice to shoppers via the visualappliance 308 located at the shelf of the product. Another functionaloperation may include the dynamic display of one content versus anotherbased on the sales volume. For example, if sales are below average, amore consumer appealing advertisement may be played on the visualappliance 308, possibly based on time of day if more risqué content isto be played.

Distributed Storage Model

FIG. 65 is an exemplary map 100 showing a distributed network of storageunit 6500 located in facility 208 of subscribers 204 of the serviceprovider 202 of FIG. 2. The storage units 6500 are typicallyunder-utilized by the facilities 208 utilizing the visual appliances308. Because the service provider 202 owns the storage units 6500, theservice provider 202 may utilize excess capacity 6502 in the storageunit 6500 for storing content of subscribers 204 other than thoseutilizing the storage units 6500 for communication operations at thefacilities 208. The content is generally deemed to be non-critical dataof a subscriber 204 and may therefore be stored in the storage unit 6500with content of other subscribers 204.

In providing for subscribers 204 to share available storage capacity onthe storage unit 6500, the service provider 202 may charge subscribers204 for actual storage capacity utilized on a per storage amount pertime unit basis (e.g., MB per month). In providing for the storagecapacity on a per time unit basis, the service provider 202 may allowthe subscribers 204 to have a free amount of storage capacity on a permonth basis and pay for additional storage capacity utilized on apremium basis, for example. Alternatively, the subscribers 204 maysimply be charged on an actual storage capacity amount used over a giventime period. In one embodiment, the actual storage capacity is anaverage storage capacity utilized over the given time period. A varietyof different billing models may be utilized, but, essentially, thesubscriber of storage capacity need not pay for the storage unit 6500either located in a facility 208 or central location of the serviceprovider 202 as the storage units 6500 are owned and/or managed by theservice provider 202. Therefore, the subscriber 204 need not pay forunutilized storage capacity. It should be understood that subscribers ofstorage capacity need not be subscribers of the content management anddistribution services of the service provider 202.

Because the storage units 6500 are established in a distributed networkacross the United States, for example, the service provider 202 maystrategically locate and make redundant the content of the subscribers204 and 206 in a variety of locations or regions around the country tosubstantially minimize the risk of loss for the content based on aregional disturbance within the distributed network. Because the storageunit 6500 may be linked via the satellite 218 (FIG. 2) managed by thecommunications network service provider 216, content may easily becommunicated between locations. Terrestrial communication mayalternatively be utilized to communicate the content for storagepurposes.

Storage rules may be generated to provide for the management of thecontent in accordance with the desires of the subscribers 204. Forexample, a subscriber 204 may wish to not have content of othersubscribers 204 located on storage units 6500 operating within thefacilities 208 of the subscribers 204. In such a case, the serviceprovider 202 may charge additional fees to the subscriber 204 for makingunavailable the excess storage capacity of the storage unit 6500operating within the facilities 208 of the subscriber 204. It should beunderstood that other rules may be utilized to charge fees or managedata amongst the storage units 6500 in accordance with the principles ofthe present invention (i.e., service fees to move data in and out inaddition to bandwidth charges).

FIG. 66 is an exemplary flow diagram 6600 describing a data storagemodel utilizing the storage units of FIG. 65. The process starts at step6602. At step 6604, a subscription for storage capacity for digital datais received from a storage subscriber. Digital data to be stored on thestorage unit 6500 is received from the storage subscriber at step 6606.At step 6608, the digital data is stored on a storage unit 6500. Itshould be understood that the digital data may be stored on storage unit6500 operated by another subscriber 204 as the storage unit 6500 ismerely being utilized by the subscriber 204, but owned and/or managed bythe service provider 202.

In storing the digital data on the storage unit 6500, rules may beutilized to determine where and when to store and distribute the digitaldata. The subscription for storage capacity may allow the subscriber tohave a fixed amount of storage area over a given time period. Forexample, the fixed amount of storage capacity may be in terms ofmegabytes per month. Any storage capacity utilized by the storagesubscriber over the fixed amount of storage capacity (e.g., 100megabytes) per month may be charged a premium to the storage subscriberby the service provider 202. Alternatively, the subscriber may pay foran actual amount of storage capacity utilized over a given time periodwithout having to purchase a minimum amount of storage capacity via thestorage subscription fee. Other subscriber models may be utilized forproviding storage capacity for the storage subscribers utilizing thedistributed network of storage units 6500. At step 6610, the storagesubscriber is charged for the storage capacity utilized on an actual oraverage basis, for example, in accordance with the subscription. Theprocess ends at step 6612.

The previous description is of a preferred embodiment for implementingthe invention, and the scope of the invention should not necessarily belimited by this description. The scope of the present invention isinstead defined by the following claims.

1. A system for determining physical location of an electronic displaydevice located in a retail establishment of a retailer, said systemcomprising: a support structure mechanically coupling the electronicdisplay device to a fixture in the retail establishment, the fixturelocated at an identified location of the retail environment establishedby the retailer; an input device in communication with the electronicdisplay device and configured to receive an entry of an identifierindicative of the identified location into the electronic displaydevice; and a transmitter coupled to the electronic display device andconfigured to transmit the identifier of the identified location to aremote location from the electronic display device for determiningphysical location of the electronic display device in the retailestablishment.
 2. The system according to claim 1, wherein theidentified location is specified on a map.
 3. The system according toclaim 2, wherein the map is a planogram.
 4. The system according toclaim 1, further comprising a computing system remotely located from theelectronic display device and configured to receive and manage theidentifier in association with a data record associated with theelectronic display device for generating reports for the user.
 5. Thesystem according to claim 4, wherein said computing system is furtherconfigured to manage content verification data generated in response toa content verification signal being displayed on the electronic displaydevice, thereby enabling the user to verify that content associated withthe content verification data was displayed timely, correctly, and in acorrect location in the retail establishment.
 6. The system according toclaim 4, wherein said computing system is further configured to displaythe identifier on a map of the retail establishment.
 7. The systemaccording to claim 1, wherein the electronic display device furtherincludes an electronic display controller being configured to receive,store, and display the physical location of the electronic display forthe user.
 8. The system according to claim 1, wherein said input deviceis a touch screen.
 9. The system according to claim 1, wherein saidinput device is an indicia scanner.
 10. The system according to claim 9,wherein the electronic display device further includes a processing unitand a memory, said processing unit being configured to receive datarepresented by an indicia scanned by the indicia scanner, and store thedata for later communication to a server remotely located from theelectronic display for determining the physical location of theelectronic display device in a network of electronic display devices inthe retail establishment.
 11. A method for determining physical locationof an electronic display device at a retail establishment of a retailer,said method comprising: positioning the electronic display device at alocation within the retail store, the location corresponding to anidentified location established by the retailer; entering an identifierindicative of the identified location into the electronic displaydevice; and transmitting the identifier of the identified location fromthe electronic display to a remote location from the electronic displaydevice for determining physical location of the electronic display inthe retail establishment.
 12. The method according to claim 11, whereinthe identified location is specified on a map.
 13. The method accordingto claim 12, wherein the map is a planogram.
 14. The method according toclaim 11, wherein transmitting the identifier of the identified locationto a remote location includes transmitting the identifier to a computingsystem for associating the identifier with other information associatedwith the electronic display device for generating reports for the user.15. The method according to claim 14, wherein said remote location isconfigured to manage content verification data displayed on theelectronic display device and measured as displayed thereon, therebyenabling the user to verify that content associated with the contentverification data was displayed timely, correctly, and in a correctlocation in the retail establishment.
 16. The method according to claim11, further comprising: receiving the identifier by the remote location;storing the identifier by the remote location; and displaying thephysical location of the electronic display by the remote location. 17.The method according to claim 11, wherein entering the identifier intothe electronic display device includes entering the identifier via atouch screen.
 18. The method according to claim 11, wherein entering theidentifier into the electronic display device includes entering theidentifier via an indicia scanner.
 19. The method according to claim 11,wherein entering the identifier via an indicia scanner includes scanninga product at a location at which the electronic display device ispositioned.
 20. The method according to claim 11, further comprisingstoring the identifier of the identified location by the computingdevice, and wherein storing includes storing the identified locationwith other information associated with the electronic display device ina data record for use to provisioning the electronic display device in anetwork of electronic display devices in the retail establishment.
 21. Asystem for determining physical location of an electronic display deviceat a retail establishment of a retailer, said system comprising: meansfor positioning the electronic display device at a location within theretail establishment, the location corresponding to an identifiedlocation established by the retailer; means for entering an identifierindicative of the identified location into the electronic displaydevice; and means for transmitting the identifier of the identifiedlocation from the electronic display device to a computing deviceremotely located from the electronic display device for determiningphysical location of the electronic display device in the retailestablishment.
 22. A system for determining physical location of anelectronic display device in a retail store, said system comprising: aninput/output (I/O) unit configured to communicate over a communicationsnetwork; a storage unit configured to store data associated with theelectronic display device; and a processing unit in communication withsaid I/O unit and storage unit, and configured to: receive, via said I/Ounit, a first identifier associated with the electronic display deviceand a second identifier associated with a physical location at which theelectronic display device is positioned; store the first and secondidentifiers on said storage unit; determine whether the secondidentifier is indicative of the electronic display device beingpositioned in the correct physical location in the retail store; and inresponse to determining that the electronic display device is positionedin an incorrect location, notify a user that the electronic displaydevice is not located in the correct location in the retail store,otherwise recording that the electronic display device is in the correctlocation.
 23. The system according to claim 22, wherein the secondidentifier is indicative of a product at the physical location of theelectronic display device.
 24. The system according to claim 22, whereinsaid processing unit is further configured to prevent content from beingdisplayed on the electronic display device until a determination is madethat the electronic display device is in the correct location.
 25. Thesystem according to claim 22, wherein said processing unit is furtherconfigured to notify the user to move the electronic display device tothe location in the retail store prior to a time that the electronicdisplay device is scheduled to be moved to the location.
 26. The systemaccording to claim 22, wherein said processing unit is furtherconfigured to: verify that content associated with the contentverification data was displayed timely, correctly, and in a correctlocation in the retail establishment; and report that the contentdisplayed on the electronic display device was displayed timely,correctly, and displayed in the correct location in the retailestablishment.
 27. A method for determining physical location of anelectronic display device in a retail store, said method comprising:receiving a first identifier associated with the electronic displaydevice and a second identifier associated with a physical location atwhich the electronic display device is positioned; storing the first andsecond identifiers; determining whether the second identifier isindicative of the electronic display device being positioned in thecorrect physical location in the retail store; and in response todetermining that the electronic display device is positioned in anincorrect location, notifying a user that the electronic display deviceis not located in the correct location in the retail store, otherwiserecording that the electronic display device is in the correct location.28. The method according to claim 27, wherein receiving the secondidentifier includes receiving a UPC code of a product at the physicallocation of the electronic display device.
 29. The method according toclaim 27, further comprising preventing content from being displayed onthe electronic display device until a determination is made that theelectronic display device is in the correct location.
 30. The methodaccording to claim 27, further comprising notifying the user to move theelectronic display device to the location in the retail store prior to atime that the electronic display device is scheduled to be moved to thelocation.
 31. The method according to claim 27, further comprising:verifying that content associated with the content verification data wasdisplayed timely, correctly, and in a correct location in the retailestablishment; and reporting that the content displayed on theelectronic display device was displayed timely, correctly, and displayedin the correct location in the retail establishment.